I want to talk more about Agricultural Revelations. There are about 4 things still bugging me, but beyond that the music is ready.

Despite my best efforts (rather, despite not consciously trying), the tracks in Agricultural Revelations form a cycle. Here are some notes for each one:

1. Proscenium

Proscenium is the hot towel at the beginning of a meal, designed to clear the head. It features two of my favorite things, chimey things and warm gooey pads.

2. Crest

Fun! Shamelessly synthy, unabashedly optimistic, Crest is a little too sweet for its own good. Grabbing the motive from Procenium, it quickly makes it its own, hurtling towards a sunshiny place as fast as it can. There used to be a Yanni/Tesh type piano solo in here, but like a failed heart transplant, it was rejected by the host.

3. E.G.B.

This is a twisty piece. The title is a reference to Goedel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. The main motive is an ascending minor triad, e-g-b. And in an allusion to Bach, the entire piece is done as an uninterrupted string of eighth notes. E.G.B. is performed by a sextet of oscillator synths, dovetailing in and out of each other as they play in unison. It’s a little stark.

4. Mouths of Babes

Mouths of Babes was a happy accident. I was laying down the bass for something when Chava sent me a recording of her daughter Isadora singing the “uh uh uh” song (her own composition). Her song lined up almost exactly with mine, and I took it from there. I can’t tell if this song is silly or creepy. Most of the time there are lines moving at different tempi, which creates the same hypnotic sensation I get when I watch my turn signal blink in a duet with that of the car in front. Dark and whispery, it also makes me giggle along with Isadora and her sister Rhiannon.

5. Mellow Vandal

I love this track. To me, Mellow Vandal was born a decade ago on the banks of the Danube in Vienna, where I used to walk listening to European ambient electronica. The way the pieces built up and broke down was so gradual, like the changing landscape on a hike. Every once in a while, one looks up and realizes they are somewhere else entirely. This is Mellow Vandal. It picks you up, takes you somewhere neat, and gently drops you off at your front door. It’s also the longest track at over 9 minutes – these things take time!

6. Meerkat

Meerkat is a song about meerkats, and is performed by a quartet of old school FM synths. If you’ve ever seen a meerkat, or even a picture of a meerkat, this piece is for you.

7. The Last Visible Dog

If you haven’t read Russel Hoban’s The Mouse And His Child, you really should. If you haven’t, this is the origin of the title of The Last Visible Dog; a dog on a can of dog food, holding a can of dog food with a picture of a dog on a can of dog food with a picture of a dog, and so forth ad finitum. Can you also hear the last visible dog? This track is slow and dreamy as it evaporates beyond sensation.