With this follow-up to "Evolution of Jazzraptor", I attempted to put a coherent message -- a gnostic theme -- across 12 tracks of music. EoJ was more or less a collection of strong but unconnected songs. I wanted to loosely unify the music with the second album.
That being said, I didn't want to go overboard! I meant for the gnostic theme of Raptorgnosis to be more practical than religious. After all, modern gnostics, with no dogma attached, think of religion as practical mythology. That seems about right to me. I certainly didn't want to be taken too seriously. So when I sing "Hippy eye yiy kay is my koan" on the third track, I'm winking at my audience!
Which doesn't mean that there aren't serious moments in Raptorgnosis. Ebb and Flow is a progressive epic which compares a spiritual family life of human love, bonding people together, with corrupt political leaders who push Americans to war and to killing: the opposite of gnosis. The spoken word piece, Gnosis, borrows directly from the Gospel of Thomas -- an early Gnostic Christian work dated from the first century.
At any rate, there are some very strong musical moments on this album of which I'm very proud. Heaven On Earth, Worst Enemy, Tremble, Mean Solar Day, and Strange New Muse all break some new ground. I hope you get a chance to enjoy!
Login to your account | Forgot your password?
