"Tales from a Red Universe" is a four-part exploration in which Thomas takes you behind the scenes of the lyrics and concepts of URIZEN's "Universe:Red." Slip on a spacesuit and join us for the ride, won't you?
In The Beginning
The tale of Universe:Red begins many moons ago... like, a whole lot of moons. It traces its origins back to 2007's Universe EP, and even contains a track (Nothing is Epic) that was recorded a few months before the completion of URIZEN's 2005 debut: autocratopolis!
The Universe EP was something of an embarrassment to me, I must admit. I marked it as my first big failure in the Uri-realm. Initially, It was a CD brimming with potential, but that potential was never fully realized in its first incarnation. Essentially, we had given ourselves a deadline as a band to have an album finished and, in an effort to solidify this deadline as absolute, we went ahead and booked a "CD Release" concert which would mark the day that we needed to have the CDs back from replication. Unfortunately, the results were... less than favorable.
At the time of Universe's birth as an embarrassingly underproduced CD, I was working full time during the week and, as a result, the final moments of Universe's completion came down to two very sleepless weekends in a row. During this time, we made sweeping last minute changes to the music, fought terribly with the vocal melodies in "A Budding Consciousness," and left ourselves without enough time to mix or master the album properly. Then, for some reason, we released it anyway. Oops! At some point, I do plan on going into much more detail about the creation of the original Universe; the turmoil I personally suffered at its disappointing hands, and the decision to re-record, re-mix and re-master it, but that's a story for another day. The subject of this blog will be the lyrics of Universe:Red and the overall concept that they attempt to convey.
Lyricising... Agonizing...
The lyrics for "A Noiseless Flash," "A Budding Consciousness," and "A New Revelation" were all written in a frenzy of panic two nights before the CD would be sent off for replication. In fact, the lyrics were written as I was tracking the final vocals that would end up on the first version of Universe.
It was the middle of the night/beginning of the morning (probably between 2am and 6am) and, at this point, it was just Daniel and I in the studio. I had a notepad, and as we would come to whatever vocal part needed lyrics next (the melodies of which had already been written), I would write lyrics that fit with our concept (which had already been worked out), read them to Daniel, and, if he thought they were good, I'd record the vocals right then and there. This was not the best idea... but it's what happened. The lyrics turned out well, but the vocal takes left a lot to be desired.
(Fun fact: If you listen to the vocals during the "I had hoped..." section of "A New Revelation" from the original Universe, you can actually hear the desperation and exhaustion in my voice that I felt as I was recording them! Although I was happy to get a chance to re-record them for Red, I do kinda miss that one section... it really brings me back to that absurd, last minute battle every time I hear it.)
Conceptualization
As for the concept, believe it or not, Universe was originally set to be a musical retelling of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Around the time that I began writing the first pieces of music for Universe, I was knee deep in books (and manga) about Hiroshima. There was something about the event that was both horrendous and intriguing. I had it all planned out, but, lo, it was not meant to be. Somewhere along the way my interest in writing about a historical event dulled and I felt inclined to write lyrics and music that were a bit more personal and self-derived.
The result, was a bizarre concept centered around the idea of the universe as a developing consciousness... or a "Budding Consciousness," if you prefer! The idea would be that, just as we humans are always looking to reconnect with this universality, looking to become part of a greater whole, perhaps the universe would feel inversely... looking always to returning to the simple singularity from whence it came. Maybe the universe didn't know what it was getting itself into by breaking out of that singularity... that beautiful void. And so begins "A Noiseless Flash," a song about the birth of the universe itself! (Interestingly, the title is carried over from the original concept and is, in fact, the title of a chapter in John Hersey's Hiroshima.)
A Noiseless Flash
Well I was created accidentally, a wonder of nature, and a glory to see. I set to expanding to conquer the void. Logic and convention were kindly ignored. Joy and release. I could never be slowed or persuaded to stop. And I will not be led away to wait for a start again. I find satisfaction in the things that I've done so far. A new fascination... (Lyrics: Thomas Drinnen)
The lyrics for "A Noiseless Flash" are, in my opinion, pretty self explanatory. As you read through, the song contains many of the most basic descriptors of our idea of the big bang, but set up from a first-person dialog. As per the song, the universe finds great joy in having forced its way into existence, and, in fact, initially can't even fathom wanting to return to the, then dreary, idea of halting, contracting, and then having to re-wait for another moment of universal inspiration. This is, of course, a reference to the old debate over whether the universe was expanding indefinitely to the point of instability, or if it would eventually contract back to a singularity in time. In fact, from the point of view of the universe "character" on this album, it could be interpreted that the universe initially planned to expand forever but, after a round or two in the ring with a manifold conscious sense, it would rather retreat back to a more austere simplicity. Like a child forging into the future with optimistic anticipation, the universe is more than willing to explore the depths of its own complexity with reckless abandon.The final lyrics of the track (tastefully omitted from the lyric sheet, by the way, so you'll have to listen carefully) lead us nicely into the next song...
Join us next time for "Tales from a Red Universe" Part Two of Four: Universal Conscience, in which Thomas further discusses the universe's growing sense of awareness, and the inevitable problems that result from it.
(Psst...! Read Part Two here!)
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