Si: The basic premise for the album opener came from a conversation I was having with someone
who chose opinion over facts; it became very clear very quickly that it was a doomed exercise. They
were too stubborn to even consider any evidence-based actuality and focused solely on their own
fiction. Conspiracy theories and “denial culture” is a product of the tendency by some people to
assume “significant events” have “significant causes”, which is of course simply not true. There is a
group of people who refuse to entertain the facts and instead find comfort in a reassuringly
comprehendible narrative that they can more readily align with. While this used to be a nuisance
years ago it is rapidly creating the dire consequences of putting politics into a dangerously partisan
arena and even people’s very lives at risk from disinformation. Rubicon is a direct response to that; a
call to action to wake up to the reality of the world and see it for what it truly is, not the constructed,
soothing blanket of whatever their mind feels more at home with believing. ( “Sometimes you have
to bear the pain and noise to clear your mind / open and your eyes and you’ll find something
beautiful will come to you in time” ).
The Artwork for this track shows a roman soldier overlooking a wide river, gladius in hand,
considering his options. We added the gladius in so it’s immediately recognisable as a roman soldier,
which should in turn hint at the story of Julius Caesar’s halt with his army in 49BC at the river
Rubicon in northern Italy. He had been ordered not to cross his army back into Roman territory
across this river. Were he to continue it would mean civil war. There would be no going back. Hence
the phrase “Cross The Rubicon” means to pass the point of no return, which is a metaphor for the
denialists and doubters to give up their self-constructed beliefs and join the real world.
2. Hades and Persephone:
Skippy: This track recounts the often-misunderstood Ancient Greek mythology of Hades, Lord of the
Underworld, and Persephone, Daughter of Demeter. According to the legend, Hades found her
picking flowers in a meadow, and fell instantly in love, as everyone seemed to do back then. He
made her a beautiful flower which convinced her to return to the underworld with him, where they
became lovers. However, Demeter, her mother, found out about this relationship and was enraged.
She demanded Persephone return to her, which her daughter did not wish to do. Demeter –
Goddess of Agriculture - took out her rage on the world above, causing famine, drought and death to
reign down on humanity. It nearly ended the world. Hades brought Persephone to her, but only after
she had eaten a Pomegranate from the underworld, knowing when she did she would forever have a
part of that place inside her. When they met with her mother, Persephone spat out six of the seeds.
Demeter took that as a sign and agreed for six months of the year Persephone could abide with
Hades, but the world would be cold and barren. For the other six months she must remain in the
world, where it would prosper. This is the Ancient Greek legend behind the four seasons – in Spring
and Summer, Persephone is with her mother, in Autumn and Winter the world suffers while she is
with Hades. The love of Gods has direct Consequences on mortals.
The Artwork is a simple rendition of Hades presenting Persephone with the flower, not knowing of
the disaster that would follow. You’ll also see that each artwork has the background colour scheme
split down the centre of a sun. This is to reflect the binary nature of a choice and its Consequences,
with the sun ( or star ) being the action that engendered the change.
3. Lighthouse:
Si: I wrote this about my friend, who had a poor experience with an ex-girlfriend. She was trouble
and hurt him deeply. I took the idea and exaggerated it a little to encompass anyone who has been
hurt from a lover (in this case female) who set out to hurt them and thrive on their suffering. The
metaphor is that of the story character acting like a lighthouse, shining their warning beams across
the rocks where their past lover – the Siren – waits on the rocks for the unwary. The chorus - “Steer
your ships away from me / This light is just a memory / A Fire that burns an angry flame” - is a direct
representation of that warning to be wary around those who entice but ultimately destroy.
The artwork is fairly blatant to the theme; a minimalist lighthouse casting a warning beam from the
rocks above the sea. You can see two trails from flying craft in the sky. They come into play later and
feature in most of the posters, but We’ll explain that in a bit.
4. Blight:
Skippy: This track and the one that follows are essentially the same piece. We just split Blight off to
it’s own track to keep the runtime of the next track down and offer it as a standalone piece of music,
especially as it’s almost fully acoustic. Thoughts of a Dying Astronaut effectively is a story in three
acts, all about a single Astronaut who finds themselves at first stranded alone, then drifting, then
doomed. In Blight, he starts to realise his situation is dire and that he is helpless, and his first
thoughts go to his loved ones, the world he is now apart from, and the bleak loneliness of his
predicament. But it will get worse….
The artwork has the Astronaut stood, alone, on the surface of a moon orbiting a vast ringed planet.
He is soon to try and escape. Again, there are craft in the background skies which his HUD has
identified, but they are not stopping for him
5. Thoughts of a Dying Astronaut:
Skippy: Continuing on from Blight, he realises this problem cannot be surmounted. He is damned to
perish out there in space, alone, slowly using up the last of his precious oxygen with every breath.
His mind races through stages of denial, rage and fear in the first act of the track and he asks ‘what
did I do to deserve this’ and ‘why me’ which are some of the classic psychological stages people go
through in times of stress and hopelessness. “One breath consumed in distress / As I look with hope
to good providence / Regrets remain and coalesce / Of a life that I cannot now redress.” He is going
to die. He starts to see his position as a consequence of some past foul deed or inappropriate action,
and at the last he realises he must atone for these, but does not know how. He realises the stars
don’t care for him and he will float out there, forever, with nothing to mark his passing and no one
to mourn him.
The artwork is the Astronaut simply floating in the vastness of the universe, a silhouette against a
green nebulae. That nebulae is a place where stars are born – vast clouds of gas and dust that
eventually form stars. What he doesn’t realise is that he may drift into such a cloud and become part
of the next star. But he is too self-obsessed to realise that he won’t be forgotten, that he will live on
forever, as part of the universe. You can also see the ships in the background again, passing him by.
If you have the CD, then the artwork in the centre pages of the booklet shows that these are in fact
the ships he came on, along with the rest of his crew. They have left him behind.
6. Bloodstains:
Si: On the home screen of my phone I styled it to looked like a Windows Phone (Remember those
masterpieces!). One thing was to add a photos app that basically goes through your gallery and
slideshows all the old photos you have stored there. I used to take a lot of photos with an ex-partner
and, of course, these often appear. Photos where we look happy and excited – a far cry form how it
all ended. I got to thinking that these were very much like the Bloodstains of a murder – the trail that
leads back to the source and the motive. One quick reshuffle of that idea later and Bloodstains the
track is about a character breaking free from an obviously toxic and damaging relationship that had
been ruining his life for too long. But in doing so he realises his own self-worth, and proclaims that in
the defiant chorus; that you can rise above anything that damages you and prosper despite the
scars. “I might stand or fall / But I feel undefeated / I'm down, but I have not conceded”
The artwork is simply a skeleton, the husk of all that is left of the story’s character, holding the
bleeding, ruined heart within their fingers. The Consequences of their actions to break free are to
bring back life to the undead shell they have become. The Lighthouse from track 3 shines in the
distance, to remind the viewer that it’s often someone else who can guide you through troubled
times, or at least offer a warning so you can save yourself.
7. Evelyn:
Si: Ah! Evelyn! We could write a whole 2000 words on this alone, but we will keep this short. This
track is the true story of a girl called Evelyn Nesbit, who suffered through tragedy and violence
during the Gilded Age. In 1905 she was the direct cause of Harry Thaw murdering the famous
architect and New York socialite Stanford White. The track follows her story in a non-linear order, as
she meets White while working as a model and a would-be chorus girl, who then proceeds to
manipulate and eventually viciously assault her. She then goes on to meet Thaw – a millionaire heir
to a railroad fortune who is full of rage and anger towards White. While he too assaults Evelyn in a
terrible ordeal, she eventually marries him. But Thaw cannot get over what White did to her, so he
brutally murders White in cold blood in a crowded New York venue that White himself had actually
designed. The story is vast and harrowing and completely true: A real dark passage of Americana
seemingly long forgotten. We would urge anyone to look up the full sorry tale which is available on
Wikipedia or elsewhere on the web. It’s one of our favourite historical tales and we think the track.
Evelyn is the best thing Aeons have so far accomplished. It may be last on the album but pride of
place in our hearts. We simply couldn’t follow that with anything else.
The artwork is a distortion of one of the most famous photographs ever taken of Evelyn, along with
the shattered glass and blood as a metaphor for the murder and the then New York Skyline in the
background. Where the sun is paced in the poster is a clue to details about the story if you recognise
early 1900s NY architecture. And let’s face it who doesn’t …
No hay comentarios