The part of the suite that seems to throw everybody for a loop is the bizarre (and rather harsh) instrumental, "Battle." So, here's my dissertation on that:

Not supposed to be pretty. But, it’s music telling a story of war. Sorry it sounds so pretentious.

The flute (peace) plays at the outset, and is gradually interrupted by two competing camps - the electric guitar (spokesman for camp 1: the hubris of technology, maybe?, in the left speaker) and a violin & frame drums (spokesman for camp 2: the hubris of self-deification, maybe?, in the right speaker). The two begin having a discussion/disagreement, which they escalate into a contest. (Note, though, that both use similar scales throughout, signifying that although they appear quite different, even to themselves, they’re actually ‘playing the same game’ - facilitating the other's response as they collectively grab more and more time in the worldwide spotlight .)

The flute attempts to re-enter, on a bit of the melody “…all we are saying…” but gets stepped on by the pulse of war before it gets to “…give peace a chance.” From there, there are shifting time signatures everywhere, the two camps showing off as best they can (albeit their ranting is not particularly pretty). Underneath, the pulse of war (bass and drums) intensifies. (Actually, it’s more like a violent sea that is sweeping the two camps away rather than carrying them, but they don’t know any better.)

By the time it becomes apparent that each camp can brag and swagger as well as the other, they’re in no mood to converse - each just wants to eliminate the other from the spotlight and be the victor of the day. Of the two, the electric guitar camp has the capacity to overthrow the unamplified violin camp, and plays a whole-tone ascending tapped scale (which, by the way, is show-offy and doesn’t harmonize with anything), flies over to the violin camp’s location (the right speaker), sweeps down and strangles the violinist.

From there, the electric guitar claims hold on both speakers, and declares so by doing its little victory dance. The electric guitars occupy all the land now, and soon we hear a large explosion as they destroy all remaining opposition. The home crowd cheers as it sees the percieved victory. But in the end, destruction has won - not the electric guitar. The flute (as well as the violin) is gone from the landscape. (By the way, I doubt this would have turned out any different if the violin had ‘won.’)

'Slowly as the Lights go Down' is close to traditional jazz. Thematically, it's tied to the album in that the same circumstances caused me to write it. But, it's a totally different take on the situation - an alternate view, which isn't necessarily consistent with the title track, but is one of my realities nonetheless.

The violin/drumkit solo (unlisted track at the end of the CD) was recorded live to 2 ambient mics at a Psynapsis gig. Much use was made of my favorite live effect, the Roland RC-20 loopstation.

I recorded 'Out of the Ashes' between Jan 2003 - Jan 2004, in 3 locations. Drums were recorded at The Crystal Lattice, Lawrence, KS, engineered by Steve and Esteban Meyer. Strings and vocals recorded at InvisibleStudio, Providence, RI. All other instruments recorded at The Bedroom Closet, Lawrence, KS. Mixed at InvisibleStudio, Providence, RI. The tracks even survived a fatal computer system crash (well, fatal for the computer, anyway), and transferrence to a new recording system! (Thank you, backup discs.)

Writing/recording this disc was certainly a foray into thicker musical textures for me, but it was a great release of everything I'd kept inside. It doesn't really mark a shift in musical direction for me, it's just the album I felt I had to make.