Blog Posts

("Guardian Angel," sculpture by Josep Llimona, photography by P. B. Obregón)

Do you remember when
Things would happen
Have we wandered since then
Far from heaven ?
Seems to me

Roads to hell and
Good intentions, oh anything
For a taste of liberty
And a kiss from my
Guardian Angel

The door opens again
I still want in
If I had known back then
The price of sin
C'est la vie !

Blindfolded
But the seer says everything
Is the way it needs to be
On the wings of my
Guardian Angel

And if at first you don't succeed
Just wait fo

("Lifeforce" by poligraf)

« Lifeforce » is the story of a personal catastrophe, an individual end of the world, beginning from a state of inspiration and hyperactivity, through doubt, destabilization, failure, consternation, collapse, and then on to relativisation, assessment, the return of hope, and renewal.

The story is told in non-linear time, beginning just after the collapse, and its various stages are presented as objects of an introspection which will lead to appraisal and peace and wil

("Ganjoji in Izushi" by 663highland)

"The Door Of The Law" is a suite in six parts inspired by "A Parable About A Parable" from RAWilson's "Quantum Psychology," itself inspired by Kafka's "Before The Law." (There is also a video version by jackhalfaprayer.)

The 3rd part is entitled "Parable" and presents a reading of the story by which Simon, the Zen student, is bewildered.

Once was a man who had made it
Up all the way to the Door of the Law
No obstacle had made him quit
No one burden had caused him

("Masculine Wave" by Katsushika Hokusai)

"Ocean" is the concluding part of "The Dam" and symbolizes the dream, the goal, the calling.

The ocean is calling.

The Music Of Poligraf series are reposts of writings and audio clips that have been originally published on The Goal Was So Near from November 2008 to April 2009, made available for those who missed the original Clip Of The Day series.

Please note that poligraf.net will be offline for a few days while our servers are being relocated and upgrade

(Tobyo from the Bakemono-Dukushi - Unknown Artist)

"Uncoiling I" was originally written in September 2002, elaborating on drafts dating back to September 2000, and a first version was published in 2004.

The title of this miniature fugue for quartet comes from Kundalini energy, one of my subjects of interest at the time. From Wikipedia :

(...) literally "coiled". In Indian yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, envisioned either as a goddess or else as

"Introspection II" is the fifth section, and second with vocals, of "The Chrome Lake." And as is the case for its almost-but-not-identical twin "Introspection I," the subject matter is pretty much self-explanatory.

Verse
I see you feel restrained, mechanized, dehumanized
I see you feel estranged, incomplete, dissatisfied
Anything for a refuge, an island for your mind, a flight, a break
No amount of diversion or substance will ever dissolve the lake

Low confidence, you can't make a move without a guide

(Erie Steam Road Roller scanned by Andy Dingley from the "New Catechism of the Steam Engine.")

“Steamroller” is probably the most busy piece of poligrafic music that I’ve written up to now, and features my new personal record of odd meters with an organ riff in 23. It is intended to hit hard and convey a feeling of inexorable mercilessness. In the “Juggernaut” storyline, it represents the apex of pain, and the metanoia.

The Music Of Poligraf series are reposts of writings and audio clips that have

("Between the waves" by Ivan Aivazovsky)

The seventh chapter of "The Dam" is entitled "Flow" and presents our protagonist/narrator having passed the test, overcome the obstacle, levelled the dam, and moving forward into the dream, responding to the calling of the ocean.

The lyrics are almost done, although I'm not completely satisfied with the choruses :

1st verse
Have I ever been here ? / Memories I'm recalling
Of similar currents / And one ingenuous starling
Only doing the things / That kept his hea

(Pocket Stereoscope by Joaquim Alves Gaspar )

“Stereoscopy” is the definitive title of a song which I used to refer to as “Point Of View.” I changed my mind about the title while writing and singing the melodies, thinking that the word doesn’t get the chance to be employed very often. Well, not around me that is. Until now.

The underlying idea of the song is that of the benefit of sharing perspectives, for instance to get rid of old oldness or discover new newness.

Stereoscopy means : three-dimensi

("Introspection" by Alberto Baumann)

"Introspection I" is the third part, and first vocal section, of "The Chrome Lake," which itself constitutes the core middle chapter of the "Entering The Stream" trilogy.

The title of the whole suite was inspired by Voivod's "X-Ray Mirror" from their "Nothingface" album :

I can't believe I am the image
Within the mirror
Into the chrome lake
The glass is broken
But I look the same

The present part's subject matter is, as implied by its title, looking into oneself. Her

(Daniel-Johnson's Manic 5 dam in Quebec, Canada - photo by Pierre cb)

Part 4 of The Dam is entitled simply “Dam.” In the storyline, this is when the obstacle is recognized and the necessity of dealing with it is accepted.

Once again the lyrics are pretty much ready, so better let them tell the story.

1st verse
The feeling is getting stronger / I'm aware of a dam
Building internally / This is not who I am
Conflicting directions / Identity crisis
Time has come to make a choice
Quiet the fearful voice

Thi

("The Winged Man" by Odilon Redon)

"The Winged Life" takes its name from the following verse by William Blake :

He who binds himself to a joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise

This piece is a singularity as far as the poligrafic repertoire is concerned. I didn't aim for innovation or cleverness as I usually do because I felt that the best way to let the message through was to keep the music simple. Thus the song is about 4 minutes long and

Clocking in at 22 minutes “The Dam” is my longest composition thus far. The piece uses the metaphor of water flowing from source to ocean to illustrate this mysterious process that we usually refer to as life. It comprises eight distinct movements, identified as follows :

• 1. Source
• 2. River
• 3. Rapids
• 4. Dam
• 5. Immersion
• 6. Surface
• 7. Flow
• 8. Ocean

As the title suggest, the focus is directed on one major obstacle/life-changing experience, symbolized by a dam on the river, which the protagonist/narrator ha

(Globe of Integration by Eugen Hofbauer, Herbert Kalleitner, and Susi Müller. Photo by Manfred Kielnhofer)

“The Chrome Lake” is the core middle part of “Entering The Stream,” the trilogy which begins with "Into The Ashram" and is completed by "Leaving The Ashram."

Lasting a little over 12 minutes, the suite comprises seven sections identified as follows :

• 1. Introversion
• 2. Intervention
• 3. Introspection I
• 4. Introspectrumental I
• 5. Introspection II
• 6. Introspectrumental II
• 7. Integration

“Integration” sta

(The Wheel of Becoming - Symbolic Representation of Saṃsāra in Tibetan Buddhism)