home Mythos home Audio literature and galleries About Shop music theory school mazes cookie policy

Background Production Notes

to the KyPoetry recording of the poem, Identity, written by Kylyra

starbar divider

Identity


Is there an answer?

Am I single

Perfected in my unique aloneness?

Do I end at the boundaries of my flesh

A tiny thing of carbon and water weave,

Inconsequential

In the glacial grind of time?


If that is the lay of the land I am blind


I stretch out like the mist;

Sitting in my parlour

I lap the water in the bay,

I climb the mountain sides,

I float to the stars.


There are no differences;

There are no distinctions.


See that chair in the corner?

That's me.

The first sound heard in this piece is a flanged keyboard sound that begins at the close of the spoken title and falls to a low rumble, becoming the background atmosphere. This sound was chosen to reinforce the depth and age of the spiritual issues addressed in the poem. I chose a bell tone to represent the idea of separation from the universe. This sound is heard three times. The first is after the line:

Am I single

There is a lag here between the line and the sound. This is to represent the speaker pondering the question; it has just arisen in her mind. The second time the sound is heard it is at the end of 'aloneness' in:

Perfected in my unique aloneness

The question is becoming more important to the speaker, thus the sound begins to follow her words more closely. The volume has been raised slightly on this second strike to reinforce the growing importance to the question raise. The final time the sound is heard it is played over the word 'end' in the lines:

Do I end At the boundaries of my flesh

This is the loudest strike of the sound, and is used to emphasise the word 'end' and give it a cut off feeling for the listener as well as indicate that the question has reached a boiling point for the speaker. The melody "Beginnings of Life" starts on the word 'boundaries' in the line:

At the boundaries of my flesh

and was used to represent the carbon and atoms of matter in this physical reality. The melody is overridden by another keyboard sound chosen to represent the sound of time on the line:

In the glacial grind of time

This sound representing time hangs over the pause of the speaker, and for a heartbeat lets the listener think that time has ground the speaker down to silence.

(continued on page 2)

starbar divider