Episode 10: Introspekt (Looking Through the Blind Eye)

Written around one of Tone Deaf's poems, Introspekt is about getting old and the eventual understanding that there's no point getting upset about it. It's also an oblique reference to the Buddhist idea that everything is transitory, never fixed. Existence is perceived as a series of phase changes, like liquid water turning into ice or gas and back again. There's no reason to struggle against these changes - they are and will be, and all the crying in the world won't stop them. And if reality and our place in it are temporary illusions created by our preconceptions, then as Aya sings in the melody/mantra, "Looking through the blind eye / We are not here / We are nowhere at all." Therefore, following the idea through to its logical conclusion, Introspekt is really about nothing!
So..... MU!

The Music
As many of you know, Kicksville is a collective with almost 60 contributing members, presided over by myself and Mayor Mike Stehr. Because of that, it means much of our writing/recording happens in bits and pieces, with contributions from whoever is available and wants to play along. However, Introspekt marks one of the first times the City Council, the seven Kicksvillians that make up our live show and who are the heart of our creative process, had time during rehearsals to write as a unit instead of flying in one by one or a few at a time.

Anyhoo, here's the deal: We were taking a break during production rehearsals last fall, and Beaker started noodling around with this cool, filter-y guitar sound...we started playing along, and this song basically popped out almost fully formed! Afterwards, we did go back to smooth-ify the arrangement and re-track things to get the proper sounds, but we used the initial recording made on the spot as the framework for what you hear in the final version.

Citizens
cover art: "The Uncertainty Principle" by Tone Deaf
Conrad St. Clair: percussion, keys, programming
Mike Stehr: bass
Lou Caldarola: drum kit, percussion
Tone Deaf: spoken word
Chris Huntington: guitar
Beaker: guitar
Aya Peard: vocals