Solar Sessions: a charity album and zine - Commentary
816 words across 7 entries.
Solar Sessions: a charity album and zine Listen on: YouTube (playlist)
Jam-packed with art, writing, and tunes inspired by our solar system, “Solar Sessions: a charity album and zine” is our biggest collaborative project yet, and we’re so excited to share it with you!
Join Handshake Collaborations in raising money for the Evergreen Satellite Food Bank with our biggest project yet! Pay what you want to get thirteen tracks, sixteen works of art, and ten short stories and poems all inspired by our solar system and beyond. If you’re a fan of the starry, ambient, glitchy, bizarre, and beautiful great unknown, you won’t want to miss out.
Organized by Helena Ruth and Jo Latta. Based on an idea by PoisonedElite.
Sun ☉ Chariot Listen on: YouTube, SoundCloud
The sun is remarkably multivalent symbol across historical, cultural and scientific realms, carrying almost as many meanings as there have been groups of people to study it. Ancient agricultural communities knew the sun was the source of all life and livelihood; millennia later, scientists confirmed it when they learned of the role of photons in driving photosynthesis in plants. Numerous groups across history have held it at the centre of their rituals and imaginings about the nature of the universe, depicting it as a god, a monster, or a chariot of fire.
It was initially difficult to decide which angle to approach the music from in order to best capture the sun in all its importance and wonder. Eventually, I settled on a style that combined its mythic and scientific connotations through a combination of orchestral and synth instruments.
The title of Chariot refers, naturally, to Helios, the figure from Greek myth whose chariot is said to pull the sun across the sky. In both structure and harmony, this track draws heavily upon Reel Around the Sun, the music of the opening sequence from the Riverdance suite, which celebrates the sun's benevolence as a bringer of light and life. Synths, glitching effects and bitcrushing signify the other half of our relationship with the sun: as a destructive, disruptive force, drowning out satellite transmissions, drying crops, irradiating the earth. The piece is eventually topped off with drums and an electric guitar ostinato, transforming its initial exuberance into a fiery aggression.
When I signed up to make a track for the sun, my first thought was, “how do I musically interpret a celestial body with so much significance and so many meanings?” and I think what I ended up making is a track about that significance.
The earth revolves around the sun in more ways than one–it’s the source of life, the powerhouse of the planet, and several cultures hold it at the centre of their cosmogenic mythos. The track is a celebration of it! (And also heavily inspired by Reel Around the Sun.)
Mars ♂ prejudice Listen on: YouTube
Despite his bright colors and relative proximity to the sun, Mars is actually very very cold.
Not in nature, but in physical temperature.
Oh, what I would give to meet Mars in person. To fly like a rocket and escape this planet.
To be earthbound no longer.
Asteroid Belt ❊ Polymorphic Virus Listen on: YouTube
The initial idea was for the music track to represent several leading themes for each of the biggest asteroids in the belt, to symbolize the mass and chaos. But during the composing it evolved into this story of a Polymorphic Virus, which was a pretty fun and interesting idea to explore whilst associating it with our asteroid belt - a huge uncontrolled mass in space.
The music track starts off the story with mysterious horn-like instruments, partnered with noise, as if the virus is "sleeping" until it gets a chance to spread itself. The second part of the track, more heavy and upbeat, represents the process where the virus corrupts and feeds off of everything it can reach in order to live and thrive. The noisy percussion and panning lead synths eventually culminate and slow down, meaning the virus eventually kills itself off after an attempt to spread out of its area of origin, and continues to exist only within asteroid belt, in the waiting and calm state.
For the asteroid belt visual art, I was heavily inspired by medieval art during the Black Plague. The person in a black cloak represents the virus, while the person next to them represents a star, and in general all lifeforms since it is said that it’s the Sun that provides energy for all living creatures. The virus is seen beckoning the star, while the star hesitates because it can’t recognize what it is (as the virus has many different forms and is constantly mutating). The plague doctors’ colors are based on the planets of the solar system, to represent where the asteroid belt is in our solar system. They don’t seem to be affected because the virus cannot spread outside the asteroid belt.
Jupiter ♃ my queen in veils Listen on: YouTube, Spotify
in the witching hour, a vision, she overpowered me.
Uranus ♅ Frostbitten Clouds Listen on: YouTube, SoundCloud
Nearly at the end of the albums availability I'm uploading my song for Solar Sessions! I am so thankful to have been apart of this amazing album! :>
Solar Sessions: a charity album and zine
Track list (1–13)