"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?
(Haven't read Part Two yet? C'mon man, view it here!)
A New Revelation
(staccato 8-bit notes represent the universe speaking to humanity by way of science and technology) Oh yes, of course. Please allow me to translate. He says: Of the universe, it should be noted that yours is but one of many. That due to things like uncertainty... and probability... the landscape of your future is truly a matter of limitless potential, and that's good. I failed to grasp emotion, or suffer with disease. "Cold" and "loneliness" astound me. I tried to find a better "self" to be. I had hoped that beyond the stars, I would find a way. I had dreamed that behind the mind, I would find the answers. I had hoped, that through it all, there'd be much more to see. I had hoped that I'd finally find a "me"! And to summarize, existence is constantly splitting and branching off into new and wondrous paths. And each new moment holds with it any number of an unfathomable amount of possibilities. So for those moments giving rise to pain, it is to be hoped that elsewhere, along a concurrent path, an inverse moment is giving rise... to joy! (Lyrics: Thomas Drinnen)
"A New Revelation" marks the universe's (and the album's) transition of perspective from the totality of the vast without to the conscious within. During the song there are two sections where the synth line seems to be "speaking" to an unidentified human who is then translating the findings to the listener. This is meant as the universe revealing itself to humanity, thus creating this mutual duality where the universe and the human intellect are nearly one in the same, yet, nevertheless, forever divided by their respective distinctions of perspective.... or are they?
Beginning with "I failed to grasp emotion..." we find the universe lamenting what it believes to be its failed attempt to find a "self" or a "me," and we are given insight into the universe's plan back in "Budding": to continue into consciousness in hopes of returning to some form of singularity, or in this case, a single human consciousness.
Throughout the song, the keyboards are clear indicators of the universe's "mood," and by the time the last "translations" have occurred, we find the universe fully seated in the final stage of grief: acceptance. Although admittedly ambiguous, the final keyboard solo serves to mark the universe's final transition into "total multiplicity;"essentially its death as a simple singularity. There is, however, perhaps some implied hope that a part of the universe has, in fact, survived and bridged the gap of duality.
From here on out, the perspective shifts from the burgeoning universe and it's manifold "self" to that of a single human consciousness... though who's to say they aren't still one in the same?
Nothing is Epic
Oh I hate, that I can't help but to watch the sky, and wonder. The universe grows and grows... it goes and goes. How I hate that I can't help, but to dwell helplessly below. Insignificance grows as the cosmic tide flows and flows and flows. I won't let the stars conquer me! Oh no! If I could grow in size till I could own the skies, would I see God? Or would I be.... Or could it be that this life is nothing more than this? (Lyrics: Thomas Drinnen)
Suddenly, we are back in the mind of a human... and we are still dealing with the same problems of existence and dissatisfaction. The lyrics (and, in fact, the entire song itself) were written (if memory serves me) sometime around the summer of 2005 while I was going to school for Audio Engineering/Production. As a result, the lyrics for the preceding tracks on the album were written with this song in mind, and (considering that this was originally the last song on the album) the story-arc does have a bit of a resolution here.
If you take the lyrics as they are (album concept aside), this song was the result of an extended investigation of mine into the worlds of quantum mechanics and astrophysics. At first, I was endowed with a mysterious sense of comfort at all the amazing and surprising attributes that the universe possesses.
As is my way, though, an underlying sense of human mortality began to overwhelm me again, and suddenly all of this new information was no longer exciting, but terrifying and imposing. This song is me as a man attempting to poke around at the edges of possibility, only to come back to the (seemingly) invariable notion that ultimately I am nothing more than one human consciousness on a collision course with non-existence. A fact that I daily (or usually nightly) lament.
There is an upside, though, to this track. If considered as a part of the whole concept, that is, if you assume that perhaps the human in question is, in fact, the universe-incarnate, the song takes on an entirely new tone. Though tragic in the apparent implication that the universe has not explicitly retained a working knowledge of it's "quest," it is, nevertheless, interesting to note that the universe is now on a collision course with its one true desire: non-existence. Without explicit understanding of the transition, however, is this really worth anything? Truly a philosophical topic that works both ways.
As per the original Universe EP, the ambiguous assumption is that the end of this song represents human death... in relation to Universe:Red, however, it is more likely to represent the death of hope, for in the next song we are introduced to the result of fear and complacency: the Boxman!
Join us next time for the final chapter of "Tales from a Red Universe" Part Four of Four: Cardboard Residence, in which Thomas discusses the universe and humanity as they approach their ultimate fates. Prepare yourselves for the final tales... from a Red Universe!
(Hey, don't give up yet! Read the final part here!)
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