Bang Bang

     Yesterday during the rather explosive holiday of July the 4th, instead of any BBQ, we sunk our teeth even deeper into the album.  I am happy to report that after a long and lovely evening, we have finalized the track order of our upcoming album.  It was an amazing experience when it was finished, to just hit 'play' and to listen to the whole thing from beginning to end.  Up until that point, I had been having a rather difficult time really visualizing or understanding the collection as a whole.  To get the flavor not only from course to course, but of the meal as well.  So the experience that I had when I was finally able to just close my eyes, and hear it from top to bottom had a profound effect on me.  I felt that in the beginning, the first track was like tumbling down Alice in Wonderland's rabbit hole, tumbling into a different world.  Then the second track was Wonderland in all it's high-energy craziness and glory.  From there the music found it's fingers around my heart, and lead me to quiet my mind and sink even deeper into the experience.  Once fully immersed in this world, I felt my soul being stretched, strained, played with, and soothed by the songs as they lead me through their beautiful maze.  I felt joy and fun in the contrast between the energies and the sounds, as one track felt like it would take me deep into the underground, and the next would have me feel that I was dancing on the rooftop of a high-rise.  Back and forth, from the moles to the sparrows it took me until there came a point where the contrast was sharp.  It almost caught me for a moment as I sat there listening.  I wasn't sure how I felt about this.  But as I listened further, I had my heart drawn in so fiercely, that I felt that this song was like a salve upon my heart and soul, and that I had needed it very much.  Then, as that song had ended, it felt as though the sun were setting at the end of a warm summer's day, and suddenly there was revelry and mayhem was being build and stoked like a great bonfire.  A party in my imagination erupted that would have made Bacchus proud.  From such fierce longing, soothing, and then ultimate release, the next song lead me to feel waltzed from such an intense catharsis, and to be deposited into a sort of surreal bliss.  Delicate, vulnerable, just a drop of melancholy, and then for a moment - a plea.  From the tenderest parts of my heart and soul - this song finally lead me to the final chapter.  Our last song, I can say with some confidence, is GOLD.  It is a song that has never been played, or released to the public.  It is our little hidden jackpot that I can't wait to break out of captivity!!  But truly, nothing could have finished off the album, or the journey that I experienced while listening to it, as completely, elegantly, and undeniably as that last song did.
     So there you have it:  all in one paragraph, and in all of it's abstract glory.  I can't wait to be able to share this whole album with everyone!  But first, I must finish it... So you can guess what I will CONTINUE to do all day today, and probably tomorrow as well :)

Happily exhausted, and yours truly,

-Dion Vox