Track By Track: Afterlife – Timelines 2

These compositions serve as “hymns to the organic nature of us all,” dancing along the edges of deeper electronica while maintaining thought and contemplation at the core. Whether capturing monsoon mornings at Angkor Wat or Cornwall’s misty “mizzle,” each track invites listeners into Miller’s carefully constructed sonic world.

We asked Miller break down each track for us.

PRELIMINARY NOTE:

REGARDING COLOURS: “I am happy to be asked that question as I always prepare the cover art for each track with what I feel is the most appropriate colours for the track so have cut sections from those covers that best describe the colour relevance, I don’t use a smartphone anymore so that was not an option. I hope this works for you.”

SEASON: “Alongside each title I have added the season in which the track was produced as seasons affect how I write so this seemed to be most appropriate.”

SETTING: “Any setting is perfectly suitable if it is in a reasonably quiet environment, deep listening bars are always a good option in cities.”

1. RETURN TO FOREVER (Autumn)

It’s inspired by the concept known as The Holographic Universe.
Quantum physicist David Bohm suggests that it is as meaningless to view the universe as composed of “parts” as it is to view the different geysers from a fountain as separate from the water from which they flow.
Examples:We believe we can extract the valuable parts of the earth without affecting the whole. We believe we can treat parts of the body and not be concerned with the whole. We believe we can deal with various problems in our society such as crime, poverty and drug addiction, without addressing the problems in our society as a whole. This appears to fall completely inline with the Taoist philosophy.

ACROSS THE DEEP BLUE SEA (Winter)

Inspired by my sailing exploits on an old Scilly Isles Pilot Cutter, which belongs to my friend and boat builder Luke Powell. Something magical happens when land disappears from view completely and all there is is the deep blue sea. It makes for long periods of contemplation interspersed with visits from dolphins and sea birds. There is nothing so beautiful as watching the sun come up over a calm ocean, light and water, the two foundations of life on Earth.

TEMPLE OF BASS (Summer)

Monsoon season at Angkor Wat, very early morning, very quiet, very hot. I made some field recordings to inspire me when I returned home. It’s a powerful place, made me think of heavy bass lines but with with the tinkling of temple bells and raindrops turned into abstract musical notation; so time to fire up my Mutable Instruments Marbles module send random signals to Rings and then pass it through the Intellijel Rainmaker. Bass courtesy of Xaoc devices Sofia module using the pure fundamental sinewave.

SIRENS OF TITAN (Spring)

Inspired by the Kurt Vonnegut novel of the same name. The novel tells the story of a man who is converted to pure energy, only materialising when his waveforms intercepts Earth or another planet. He finds he spends most of his time on Saturn’s moon, Titan, which he finds to be rather peaceful, abundant and a perfect climate.

The reality may be slightly different. When the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft passed through the Saturn system in 1980 and 1981, they couldn’t see Titan’s surface because of its hazy atmosphere—images from that mission showed a featureless orange world—but they did see the blue haze as a seemingly detached layer of Titan’s upper atmosphere.

INFINITE SOURCE (Winter)

To truly grasp the spiritual significance of infinity, one must first comprehend its essence. At its core, infinity speaks to the eternal nature of the universe and the divine. It represents a limitless expanse that extends beyond the confines of our mortal existence, inviting us to contemplate the infinite possibilities that lie before us. With its infinite potential, infinity beckons us to embrace the unity and interconnectedness of all things, dissolving the illusion of separation and revealing the underlying oneness that permeates the cosmos. In exploring the spiritual meaning of infinity, we delve into the very fabric of reality, uncovering its multifaceted aspects. From its association with eternity and immortality to its embodiment of endless possibilities, infinity serves as a gateway to a higher understanding of the divine and our place within the grand tapestry of existence. It invites us to transcend our limiting beliefs and boundaries, allowing us to embrace a state of infinite love, compassion, gratitude, and wisdom.

NAGUAL (Spring)

In Mesoamerican folk religion, a nagual or nahual is a human being who has the power to shapeshift into their tonal animal counterpart. Nagualism is tied to the belief one can access power and spiritual insight by connecting with the tonal animal within.

UNFOLD (Spring)

When faced with problems, whether health, stress or just unhappiness, our first reaction in life is to seek a remedy from an external source; in contrast, the solution lies in changing our direction from constantly seeking outwards to consciously seeking inwards.

Spiritual Unfoldment is an unveiling of the patterning of the mind. By diving deep within ourselves, the force emitted through this process infuses itself in the patterned areas of our mind, dissolving away all the burdens and unnecessary conditionings and attachments that cause us to lose sight of or experience our true Divine Nature – our Real Self. Through meditation, that inward journey begins. Springtime feels just like that; after the dark cold of winter, plant life bursts forth into the sunlight, birds sing, life-affirming. I recorded an incredibly loud and busy dawn chorus one glorious spring morning to use as reference and recreated it on my modular rig, you can hear the flowers growing.

MIZZLE (Spring)

Mizzle: A word commonly used in Cornwall to describe tiny drops of rain that create a thin mist. When there is no accompanying wind the land is silent and it provides the gentle kiss of life to all living things.
I wanted to recreate in sound the touch of mizzle on my face and the sense of peace this brought on a still misty day.

SONG FROM THE SEA (Summer)

I found this quote by Ryunosuke Satoro “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
Now, more than ever we need to understand this completely and live our lives accordingly, I believe we will find happiness like this.
Together we are strong.

I had taken my Buchla Music Easel up to Scotland with a hard drive to record free style and came away with all the parts I needed to put this track together in the studio. The lead line was the first thing I recorded and used a reedy sound which is a first for me, celtic vibes got me without me even realising at the time. I’m constantly amazed at the Buchla, it’s very easy to not sound electronic and the pressure cv can be routed to control the depth of timbre which feels more like an acoustic instrument.

FIRST LIGHT (Summer)

I like to go down to the river in the summer to meditate before first light then feel the first rays of sunlight, a small breeze, and birds start to sing as the world comes alive for a new day. One particularly beautiful solstice morning I was so blown away that I came home and went straight into the studio to capture the feeling. So this piece is dedicated to the dawn at solstice. Whatever the human race does the planets still swing around in their orbits around the sun, humbling…

IMPARTIAL (Summer)

Impartiality or Equanimity in Buddhism means to have a clear-minded tranquil state of mind – not being overpowered by delusions, mental dullness or agitation. For example, with equanimity we do not distinguish between friend, enemy or stranger, but regard every sentient being as equal. The near enemy is indifference. It is tempting to think that just ‘not caring’ is equanimity, but that is just a form of egotism, where we only care about ourselves.
The opposite of equanimity is anxiety, worry, stress and paranoia caused by dividing people into ‘good’ and ‘bad’; one can worry forever if a good friend may not be a bad person after all, and thus spoiling trust and friendship.
A result which one needs to avoid is apathy as a result of ‘not caring’.
Equanimity is the basis for unconditional, altruistic love, compassion and joy for other’s happiness.
When we discriminate between friends and enemies, how can we ever want to help all sentient beings?
Equanimity is an unselfish, detached state of mind which also prevents one from doing negative actions.

MUSIC FOR STARGAZING (Summer)

If you have ever been 100 miles offshore (at least) or in the middle of a desert the sky gives up its treasure when the sun goes down and you’re looking into the past when you can really see  the stars and Milky Way so clearly. I was looking at the Andromeda galaxy and my friend said “That is 2,480,000 Light Years from here so for all we know it may not exist now.” I got this sense of vertigo as if I was about to fall upwards into eternity, the intro of the track reminds me of this extraordinary feeling.

TIMBUKTU (Winter)

I dreamt that I was flying through Mali in a battered old car heading for Timbuktu, this track was the soundtrack playing in my head, usually these things disappear after I have been awake for a while but not this time, so vivid, I can smell the dust and feel the heat.

THE TINY SPACE WITHIN YOUR HEART (Winter)

“Tiny Space” was inspired by this quote from the Upanishads which I found on a cold day in December

“The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe. The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not.”

I felt much warmer, and set up a chord progression in the ACL Sinfonion, set up some random sequences to it in 6/4 time which 2 of its other channels quantised to follow the chord sequence, it felt like the universe was being playful controlling the “coin toss” element of the random sequences, everything is frequency in the end.

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