Oceans Alight LP Demo
Artist: Living Mythologies
Title: Oceans Alight LP
Sequence: 1st LP
Projected Release Date: October 2021 (TBD)
Length: 75 Minutes
Tracks: 12
Originals: 11
Folk Song Renditions: 1
Recorded in: Beijing (China), Kyzyl (Tuva), Hanoi (Vietnam), Colorado (USA), St. Petersburg (Russia)
Mixed by: Elliot Scheiner & Misha Oshkanov
Mixed in: St. Petersburg (Russia), New York (USA)
Mastered in: San Francisco California; Oxford (London)
Core Concept: “The boundless dreams of children...”
Album Lyric Concepts: Merdan Ehetali & Andy Bauer
Main Sound Symbolism Characteristics: The album sonically evokes a “yin yang” dichotomy between the energy of a world set alight by the hearts and dreams of children and the energy of another world we are pulled when our connection with it is broken. The instrument arrangements and vocals present a certain “sonic viscosity” empathetic to the complex feelings of struggle we endure in our respective quests to reclaim our “way to the way” and that unrestrained wondrous sense of life common to children around the world. The atmospheres and vicissitudes made audible in each of the album’s songs convey the triumphant, the tranquil, and the sometimes terrifying moments we can experience along this journey.
Interview Style Answer to “What's the Album About?”: The album engages some of the struggles we are experiencing right now in the world during this period of rapid transition including things like the shifting relationship between technology and culture and nature and the new social ailments arising that present new struggles within the human condition as well as recurring fatal societal errors like genocide in it's many forms. Without getting too concrete in expression of these notions, the songs engage and sonically mend some of these things from the “zeitgeist” of the now mainly from the point of view of one of humanity's most shared values: cherishing, celebrating and uplifting the children of the world.
Instruments: piano, 12-string guitar dropped tuned to D/C, atmospheric electric guitar, 5-string bass, igil, ghirjek, dutar, sabai, satar (not to be mistaken with sitar), dap, rock drums, middle range khoomei, dag kargyraazy and sygyt, dan bau and doshpuluur and synthesizers.
How Transcultural Elements Support This Theme: We feel that institutionalized education as put forth by many different kinds of nation-state systems in the world today is a major factor that leads to segregation of ourselves from many of our childhood qualities. Yet our approach to a highly engaged yet grassroots form of transcultural lifestyle conveys enthusiasm and curiosity for living with a sense of ever-searching, and this brings a new sense of justice in this affair. This endeavor symbolically plays out in the sound of our songs and is made audible by our original multilingual lyrics and colorful instrumentation. We are living the music that we make!
This Installment Presents the Concept of Living Mythologies Through: A collection of vibrant songs, each and every unique full of “living”, “moving”, “multi-dimensional”, “multi-cultural metaphor”.
1. Oceans Alight
Don’t be afraid now…
Just look straight ahead...
Relax, be free…
And raise your chin…
Up the cliff we go...
We’re gonna be perched like happy birds…
We’ll all be looking out o'er onto the…
Great sun glitter…
Up we go…
Up we are…
Atop we go…
Atop we are…
Gaze out along the far-reaching chain of life...
Breath in the spirit…
Emerald blue waters...
Gaia takes to life…
Look out and around…
Expand your wings…
Then fly...
Fly away toward the glittering sea…
"غەلۋىر! غەلۋىر! غەلۋىر! غەلۋىر!"
(Ghelvir Ghelvir Ghelvir)
"ئارغامچا! ئارغامچا! ئارغامچا!"
(Argamcha, Aragamcha, Argamcha)
It sets the oceans alight…
You set the oceans alight…
You are an ocean alight…
2. The Man Hawk
There once was a man...
Although without such intentions…
Had been feeding a hawk within…
At night, the man walked down the streets of ‘still sound’...
Yet with each step he took…
Feathers sprouted deep-down....
With time,
it started to look for its prey through him...
These became its works,
it's masterpieces…
The hawk made with him no music…
Instead… it scraped the man’s soul...
Ohhh...
It sought to more than anything,
seal the door...
Now even in broad daylight…
The hawk was honing down on him…
And with time,
the hunt was becoming easier...
It was now like spotting a rabbit on a white field…
As the days and the years passed…
The man started to become the hawk…
And at the hand of time’s partner...
The hawk started to become the man…
As the seasons lapsed,
the whole city became a forest…
The streets of “still sound” now covered with branchless trees...
His own nest now ruined...
Could nowhere be rebuilt...
Then on the last night…
He became the man-hawk…
Spontaneously he combusts…
Gone with the flapping wings of ascent...
At the foot of the man’s old doorstep…
Laid resting one thing…
Implied Ending:
It was the hawk's talon…
It had been broken off in a sharp way…
Crisp like the edge of a naxil…
His eyes now gazed into the unknown world.
3. Deep Inside A Clock
Have you seen my son?
All around apples are being planted...
Apple trees are growing...
Doesn't he for himself…
Have an apple?
The water,
it is swimming…
but...
Is it you that keeps it afloat?
The water,
the water,
the water...
Have you seen my son?
Isn’t he wearing a covering to…
Cloak things from the past...
For all the fruit…
Does he…
Have a basket?
He must be singing...
We can hear…
The song is dancing toward our ears from afar…
Isn't it him a singing?
A singing…
For all the fruit…
Does he…
Have a basket?
He must be singing a song…
4. The Tarim
Yellow leaves passing by me in the wind…
A child’s dreams come true…
From where have we come and where will we go?
The river meanders forward pushed by distant snows…
Yellow leaves meander too whispering stories of all time…
Man tarim deriyesi
(مەن تارىم دەرىيېسى)...
I have been passed the bend where it meanders the most…
Man tarim deriyesi
(مەن تارىم دەرىيېسى)...
Oh… Tarim river!
（哦，塔里木河我家乡！）
Yellow leaves passing by me in the wind…
Yellow leaves telling that the times have shifted…
Yellow leaves whirling passed a window...
A child’s dreams come true...
Oh… Tarim river!
（哦，塔里木河我家乡！）
Yellow leaves passing by me in the wind…
I remember the place where it meanders the most…
Tarim deriyesi…
(تارىم دەرىيېسى)
men tarim deriyesi…
(مەن تارىم دەرىيېسى)
5. Bavarian Ancestry
0:31-0:58 “The Storyteller tells…”
A child’s laughter echoes deep within…
Their smiles beam like sunshine on skin…
And those that follow through to the clear to stay…
All their wonders will shine ... a-way…. to... the way…
1:25 - 1:30 “A hardshipped woman asks…”
Where’s the warrior for humanity?
Who knows how it feels to set caged birds free…
1:32 - 142 “An orphaned girl answers…”
If you knew that you couldn’t stand and say…
Knowin the worlds a trillion miles away…
1:43 - 1:54 “A hopeful boy suggests”
So try to close your eyes and dream and see...
Into a world that is really made for us all…
1:57 - 2:18 ““The Storyteller Tells”
Like a Herman an Echman, a gentleman of…
Bavarian ancestry….
2:32 - 2:42 ““A hardshipped man asks…”
Where’s the warrior for humanity?
Who knows how it feels to set caged birds free…
2:43 - 2:52 “An orphaned boy answers…”
If you knew that you couldn’t stand and say…
Knowin the worlds a trillion miles away…
3:15 - 3:40
“The ancestors awakened proclaim the power of the descendants...” They now know they’re not dreamin they’re feeding the light to us all...
3:42 - 3:52 “The ancestors join to ask”
Where’s the warrior for humanity?
Who knows how it feels to set caged birds free…
3:52 - 4:03 “The people of the world join to answer”
If you knew that you couldn’t stand and say…
Knowin the worlds a trillion miles away…
4:15 - 4:38 “The Warrior proclaims”
The answer may lie deep down within his Bavarian ancestry…
4:40 - 4:55 “History Answers”
Die Antwort kann tief im Inneren liegen...
(German for the answer may lie deep down within)
6. Echo (Cụ)
bà ơi cháu nhớ bà xa
bà ơi cháu nhớ bà yêu
trong mơ cháu thấy bà yêu
Translation of Vietnamese:
Grandma I miss you far away
Grandma I miss my dear
in my dream I see my grandmother
7. Sparkle /《闪耀》
希望是你我共鸣的声波，
梦没有终点。
像海豚一样，
你的生命无限可能, 偶尔也会迷失方向。
在不经意间被一丝堕落念头
拉扯着沉入海底。 沉入海底，海底。
恍然醒悟海岸，
温柔波浪将你包围。
似微雨纷落在身上···
唤醒了你的灵魂···
像微风的耳语， 如不置身大海，
希望绝不会散发微光。
你站起来，
站起来，
站起来。
在你摇曳的梦里，
希望伴你缱绻。
在遥远的海边，
月光皎洁之时。
希望像太阳一样迸发永恒之光。
你肩负的阴影被抛在脑后···
无所不在的希望点燃万物，
看着它的眼神你幡然醒悟。
希望变成海豚眼中的闪耀，
看着它的眼神你幡然醒悟。
恍然醒悟海岸，
温柔波浪将你包围。
就像无垠的海洋，
希望是你我共鸣的声波，
梦没有终点。
Sparkle (Translated from Chinese)
Hope is what resonates us,
And dreams have no end.
Just like a dolphin,
your life is boundless in possibilities.
Yet somehow we sometimes get lost…
when we least expect...
Tugged to the bottom of a sea by some crooked thoughts…
Sinking to the bottom,
To the sea’s bottom…
It’s bottom.
Suddenly eyes open to a beach,
Gentle waves caress you.
The most delicate mists drizzle on your skin…
And awaken your soul.
Just like the voices of gentle winds meandering about,
You are not stuck in those depths.
For hope will not break apart good light.
You stand, stand, stand up...
In your roaming dream, hope embraces you.
And in the far-off sea,
Just as the moon is at its brightest,
Hope just like sunlight, emits eternal light.
The shadow on your shoulders is left behind.
Boundless hope lights all things.
All is alight as you look onward.
Hope is like a sparkle inside the eye of the dolphin.
Looking into it you awaken.
Awaken to a seaside,
With delicate waves embracing you.
Just like the limitless ocean,
Hope is our shared resonation.
Dreams have no end.
8. Far Away Sunset (遥かな夕焼け)
Tuvan prayer at intro:
Алдын хүнүм, ɵршээ!
Арбын чонум, ɵршээ!
Алгап-ла йɵрээйн, ɵршээ!
Амылыг-ла турзун, ɵршээ!
English translation of prayer:
My golden sun, forgive me!
My people, forgive me!
I am blessing you, forgive me!
You all survive beyond many,
many years, forgive me!
初めて空を飛ぶ気持ち雛鷲がか弱い羽を
広げてアコウの木の巣を離れたくなる
春と夏に挟まっている翼。
幼い頃、怖がることなく
世界を見上げられた。
いつも穏やかで
落ち着いて。
春と夏に
挟まっている翼。
前を向いて未来へと
道を歩みながらも
そんな懐かしい思い出を通じて
自分の源に遡って往く
大雨なのに傘がないかのよう
ずぶ濡れにならないように
イマジネーションの奥深くへ
旅をしながら
遠く雲の上へ、遙かな夕焼けの裏側へ
好奇心の楽園へと
目を閉じて、心の中の船に乗り
水平線に留まることなく、
輝く海の向こうへ
夢をつぶされないように
永遠に春の終わりの気持ちを守って
木に咲いている花の匂いを吸っている。
それは好奇心の「季節」だ。
好奇心に一途であれば、
何も奪われない
目を閉じて、心の中の船に乗り
水平線に留まることなく、
輝く海の向こうへ
前を向いて未来へと
道を歩みながらも
そんな懐かしい思い出を通じて
自分の源に遡って往く
これは僕たちの祈りだ
English Translation of song:
Like wings juxtaposed between spring and summer…
The young hawk spreads its wings and flies from...
An Akou tree for the very first time.
When we were young,
We beheld the world…
Looking unto it without fears.
Always peacefully,
And always calmly.
Juxtaposing our wings...
Between spring and summer.
While facing ahead,
Walking the road into the future...
We can go back to our roots,
By means of nostalgia.
Like having no umbrella in a big storm
We will only not be overwhelmed if…
We journey to the edges of our imagination…
Over and above the far away clouds,
To the sunset’s other side,
To curiosity's paradise.
Boarding the ship,
Within our hearts we close our eyes…
No stops at the horizon,
Inward we go on the sparkling blue.
In an attempt to crush no dreams…
Keep that feeling of the springs end…
Like the lush fragrance of youthful late spring flowers…
That is the season of curiosity.
If you stay on it,
nothing will be plundered.
Boarding the ship...
Within our hearts we close our eyes…
No stops at the horizon,
onward we go on the sparkling blue.
While facing ahead,
walking the road into the future…
We shall go back...
To our roots by means of nostalgia.
9. My Valley of Mezhegei (Межегейим)
They found in the deepest darkness...
The brightest sun and so they came to know…
That love was the only might...
The other with a lot of wounds,
Gaining the armors of cleverness and beauty.
A boy and a girl...
like a wolf and fox...
One with hardships and one with great luck…
They’re a brother and sister of the armored forest…
Day by day through wounds and joys…
They came to know the only might…
One side of the forest river stands luck...
While on the other there surely is none…
It’s in this valley that we’ve come to...
Know the power of friendship through and through...
Like the brightest sun shining through the trees...
They came to know the only might...
They came to know that might…. was the only love…
Forest mists shall part unto their unbreakable wills…
Tuvan lyrics section:
Улуг-Хемге таваңгайлаан
Улуг-Ийим, Кадыр-Ийим.
Уруг чаштан ойнап өскен
Улуг шынаа Межегейим.
Каа-Хемге таваңгайлаан
Кадыр-Ийим, Калбак-Ийим.
Кара чаштан ойнап өскен
Калбак шынаа Межегейим.
Аткан даңнын сырынында
Адыр-Тейден бараан хараар,
Алды Межегей Сарыг Булун
Кандыг янзы чыдар ирги.
Алды айның болчаандар бээр
Адыр-Тейден хараар боор сен,
Алдыы Межегей Сарыг Булун
Чайыннанып чыдар боор он.
10. Trowels
你会··· 丢脸。
Nǐ huì··· diūliǎn.
他得··· 免受这些刁难。
Tā dé··· miǎn shòu zhèxiē diāonàn.
你是谁··· 去破坏孩子的感情？
Nǐ shì shéi··· qù pòhuài háizi de gǎnqíng?
我非... 尽快警告这不可。
Wǒ fēi... Jǐnkuài jǐnggào zhè bùkě.
你会··· 汗颜。
Nǐ huì··· hànyán.
他想··· 逃出生天。Tā xiǎng···
táo chū shēng tiān.
这是你的脸，他们相视无言。
Zhè shì nǐ de liǎn, tāmen xiāng shì wú yán.
我得站出来，不惧艰险。
Wǒ dé zhàn chūlái, bù jù jiānxiǎn.
我会··· 坦言。
Wǒ huì··· tǎnyán.
他得··· 抓住这段时间。
Tā dé··· zhuā zhù zhè duàn shíjiān.
我是谁？Wǒ shì shéi?
Wǒ shì shéi?
只好阻止你带来的恶心。
Zhǐhǎo zǔzhǐ nǐ dài lái de ěxīn.
你非··· 慢慢地反思不可。
Everywhere you look,
everywhere you flee,
armies of trowels shrewdly close in…
So we must speak in tongues that...
They surely can not understand…
Time and fate start to twist...
Around your eyes and ears elusively …
Your subconscious tells you that...
The boogeyman’s coming...
この泣き声が聞こえるのかな？
人間として心より何かを伝えたい。
前向きに受けられれば助けるほど。
前向きに受けられれば助けるほど。
11. By Lantern Light
Why must I walk by the lantern light?
Look and Light...
How long...
O storm...
Shall I walk...
O dark moments in dark forests...
With the lantern light in my hands?
From door to door…
Threshold to threshold…
House to house ...
Land to land…
With the lantern light in my hands?
As like a blind guide...
Only the sense is my direction...
The body is my cart...
With the lantern light in my hand?
Look and Light...
Look and Light...
Look and Light...
12. We’re Gonna Be Planting Flowers
Why do you wait?
What do you think?
Shall be free from our...
Free from our enslave…
Freed from ageless tars…
The sounds of the light playing from beyond…
The lights of the machine beaming from within…
The sounds become the lights,
and the lights become the land…
Holding, breathing, feeling, seeing,
whispering, shouldering, endeavoring,
believing…
Why do you wait?
What do you think?
Just as calls from the past find their way down,
young hearts look back…
You are dreaming along a star fall...
Chasing the deep-down sea...
No horse, no camel,
We ride an inner tide…
To the most sacred of waters…
Before the door comes the truth...
Of your meaningless self-insurrection…
So breath more, see more,
feel more without such kinds of interruptions…
There it is, under the mountain,
the fountain’s spring lies just inside…
From it trickles out the light of the…
Unknown world now shining in your eyes…
Away….
We’re gonna fly away now…
Let’s take to the sky.
Away….
We’re gonna fly away now…
We’re above oceans alight.
Beyond the door...
Comes the truth of your self-interception…
So… breath more, see more,
Feel more without such kinds of interruptions…
We’re gonna be planting flowers on the way to eternity…