The Holy Sea

The Holy Sea is an ever-expanding electroacoustic sound odyssey told through recontextualized sounds and metaphor woven into an entirely new and allegorical conversation about the mystery of being: life, love, spirituality, and our journey from birth through death to the beyond and back.

Consisting of endlessly unfolding volumes for home listening, each listening experience is a portrait of the human mind that follows an orbit of radiophonic sound, religious rite, found sounds, and theater machine. 

Every sound in The Holy Sea is culled from the composer’s personal collection of thousands of obscure and impossible vinyl records threaded together with field recordings of events in the composer’s own life and musical journey.

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Vol. 1

I. Red - A Sacred Hypnosis

II. White - One Computational Rite

III. Blue - A Semi-Sacred Teleportation

IV. Green - The Xmas Gathering

Vol. 2

V. Black - The Golden Hinge

VI. Pink - Tomorrow's Umbilical

VII. Clear - A Cylinder Beyond Within

VIII. Purple - Dissolving the Ears of a Body Politic

Vol. 3

IX. Yellow - Opioids of Enlightenment

X. Silver -  Superchrist of the Preliminary After

XI. Indigo - Parable of the Etheric

XII. Grey - Strobing a King in the Hereafter

Vol. 4

XIII. Orange - Triangle Moves Toward Child

XIV. Sarcoline - A Platform Built to Hercules

XV. Xanadu - Of Wombs and Wind Eggs

XVI. Jade - For Raindrops with Broken Capes

Vol. 5

XVII. Rust - The Ether-Ship Montage

XVIII. Opal - Invisible Life in the Bubble Room

IXX. Superchrist of the Preliminary Never

XX. Spirit of ’78: the Art of Bone

Vol. 6

XXI. Cleansing the American Monocle

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I. RED - A Sacred Hypnosis (38 min)
This is the inaugural occasion of The Holy Sea, which is centered on the structure of the 16th Century form of the Latin liturgical Mass. Through the course of this rite, trains will depart across the land, errant pilots will search for darkened landing strips, and listeners can induce self-hypnosis if they so choose.

An American woman is taken through hypnotic regression and reveals herself as a young Irish housewife in a past life, while helicopters take off from necks and searchlights are cast on the divine within. Lullabies are sung from a fishing boat and golf swings send electronic test signals into the stratosphere.

* * * *

II. WHITE - One Computational Rite (43 min)
A meditation expands into a cathedral. Computers from the 1980s are introduced and linked to the human mind as The Holy Bible is recited in Magyar. The Pledge of Allegiance is carefully enunciated by a 3rd grade class assembly as you bear witness to an actual wedding ceremony from 1963 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Along the way a spiritual guide leads us to the top of The Mountain in search of a giant sword and chalice, while The Lord’s Prayer is accompanied by Gregorian chant. Deep in the forest, trees are felled as wrecking balls are swung at oversized liberty bells. 

By the end of the tale, you might just believe in miracles after hearing the beautiful voice of little Mary Ann Fino of the Mexia, Texas State School for special-needs children. Also during this chapter, President Abraham Lincoln may or may not be assassinated.

Speaking of which, does his ghost still haunt the White House? Where is he now?

* * * *

III. BLUE - A Semi-Sacred Teleportation  (42min)
The year is 2001, and Orion and his sister Maia are cruising in a space module high above Planet Earth. Piloted by a chatty spaceship computer named CD2, the siblings travel through outer space in search of Man's origin only to discover mediocre surfers and Inuit folktales with life-lessons taught through metaphor. After receiving word from another space computer named Ralph, a state of emergency now exists on Earth and decisions must be made for your survival. But do not panic.

Repeat: Do not panic.

Improve your vision without the use of eyeglasses, and look at your reflection in the water. See the outline of your face, your shoulders, and the color of your hair.

Notice your facial features, and the color of your clothes.

Come closer.. 

You are able to see your entire body from head to toe.

Come closer.. 

…

Now, notice how you are feeling..

As you gaze at your reflection, listen to the whispers.

* * * *

IV. GREEN - The Xmas Gathering (36min)
In three movements, you will hear a launchpad countdown on Christmas Eve as a warm & fuzzy narrator falls asleep. A group of skeptical kids travel back in time to find Jesus, while a group of blue whales are accompanied by a string orchestra and Dean Martin goes missing on Christmas Day.

Dorothy is soon swept up by a tornado and meets The Wizard of Oz before a woodcutter is granted three special wishes for not chopping down a tree. Five blind men feel out an elephant to find the true meaning of religion while Blackstone (b.1934), the legendary stage magician, promises to give you the big secret behind his best trick...if you will listen just a bit longer.

* * * *

V. BLACK - The Golden Hinge (43min)
Experience the fun of dying as you take a charter flight to the afterlife. Here you'll self-induce hypnosis as you enter through the pearly gates on your way to Heaven's Hall of Fame.

Take part in Harry Houdini's actual and final séance at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel in 1936, where an enrapt and telemetric audience from around the world attempts to conjure forth his spirit from the dead using a trumpet, tambourine, and pistol.

Hone your ESP skills as you sit down before the ocean and contemplate the size of your tongue, or sit in on open mic night with a swingin’ jazz combo as the infamous Karate-ist Preacher chops through concrete, all in the name of God.

Finally, a powerful wind sweeps over the waters and we count down to the moment of your last breath:

The moment that is Now.
 

* * * *

VI. PINK - Tomorrow's Umbilical (43min)
Welcome to the future, adrift upon the waves crashing on the fine line between Heaven and Hell. On this voyage, we will predict your eschatological future and let the 8-bit games of nuclear warfare commence as Lowell "The Singing Midget" Mason serenades us toward our own immortality.  

Angelic chariots and celestial beings are discovered and explained in The Book of Ezekiel, while seer extraordinaire Nostradamus makes a special appearance to reveal his predictions for the year 1999. Did they come true? Drifting even further out, nuclear mysticism is alive and well above the ocean, and the Dies Irae is presented in the form of a choice.

What will you choose?

During the rest of this odyssey, a critical message from "The UFO People" is relayed from a real-life UFO abductee - delivered under circumstances so unbelievable that it may be difficult for you to accept it here. But for the safety and betterment of all mankind, it is relayed to you here now.

Finally, a suicidal teenager with a loaded gun faces his fear of discerning between the real and unreal, merging the two by pulling the trigger on a tape-recorded message to friends and family.

After stepping fully into the afterlife, will he finally get to meet The Big Man Upstairs..?

…

Will you?

 * * * *

VII. CLEAR - The Cylinder Beyond Within (35min)

Tommy Forester...is dead.

The clock ticks backwards, and walls begin melting as a teenager crosses over to the beyond and turns into... a graham cracker? The three essential qualities of the sonic universe are revealed to you by R. Murray Schaefer, and we exalt perhaps the earliest known stereophonic recording on the 10th floor of Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City, on June 1st of 1934. 

Bear witness to an unbelievable real-life group exorcism, where a mid-western church minister conjures forth a demon-possessed woman's spirit of anger right before your very ears.

Also, why are you staring at the light?

…

And, how long have you been staring at it? It’s such a beautiful day outside.

After attending your own funeral with no one in attendance, we then take an elevator to the Upper Room, where you and God can now communicate directly.

…

What…?  

What do you hear..?  What do you say.?

In closing, we'll erect a long-overdue sonic memorial to Thomas Edison, where you will hear him speak the very first words spoken into the original phonograph in 1877, a practical poem about Mary recorded with a rigid needle and some recycled tin foil.

The Universe is your orchestra. 

Listen.

* * * *

VIII. Purple - Dissolving the Ears of a Body Politic (35min)

Let’s push the record needle back and allow it to wander across the grooves. It is 5000 BC, and we are now in prehistoric times.

There is no radio, television, or phonograph to listen to - only the wind and rain. See how Man is drawn back to his original rhythms as the clock ticks on with endlessly empty minutes. See how Man listens to that.

And now observe how he creates strange, rhythmic, and emotional sounds of his own: amateur Christian glam metal rears its gloriously permed head, and swallows the magnetic evil in ‘70s rock music in retrograde, while a runaway prisoner wearing a noose is at risk of being hanged at the bottom of a river.

Could there be a conditioned response to this situation? Just watch what happens when we ring the bell, people!

As we wait for Man’s greatest miracle and the most important secret of all to unfold, we will switch roles by standing on The Spot Marked X and step out of life using a stairway to the other world - allowing you to walk from this planet into Eternity.

By the time this record has finished, the 600-Second Miracle will have occurred and at least one person in this world will have sat down for the very first time.

This happens everyday…somewhere.

Speaking of, do the golden days of life slip through your fingers?

You will think of that tomorrow, eh?

Hello?

What’s the surprise gift?

Thank you.

* * * *

IX. Yellow - Opioids of Enlightenment (32min)

Why…do you..think?

Are we on the brink?

Sit before a fire and brimstone preacher in Appalachia before hearing an otherworldly nun-from-down-under ignite the Fire of God's love with a drum synth and her beautiful and tape-delayed voice.

Speaking of God’s love, how many of you would rather be up here with this French guillotine? A nervous student then volunteers for a public guillotine demonstration at a high school class assembly, in hopes of losing his head to make room for a new one. Mr. Don Schlomak, are you ready to die today!?

But wait. What ever happened to the carrot?

We'll hear the 129th hymn of the 10th mandala of the Rigveda to learn about the cosmic mystical exegesis and to determine the very origin of our Universe. Meanwhile, the proper use and techniques of operating analog tape machines will be reviewed to help you improve your recordings and which includes a bootleg recording of the final moments of Jonestown colony in Guyana. Lest we forget.

Witness the charismatic Reverend Jim Jones before, during, and after the ascension of the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project at Jonestown. But first, are you ready to be born again?

Do you need a NEW nature?

If so, let’s turn those -ism’s into -wasm’s.

Throughout this journey, we can learn the rules of assemblagist Allan Kaprow’s ‘How to Make a Happening’ from 1966, before bare trees are painted red, black highways are painted black, and inter-dimensional rain and oceanic waves wash away the paper bodies at the sea edge.