Into the Wardrobe

Hello,

firstly, I'm new here so hello everyone! Secondly, I'm the founding musician in an eccentric prog rock band called WeSellSeashells. I fell in love with the Cosmic Trilogy a few years back. Recently I decided I had to write a song recounting Ransom's tale and his Journeys across Lewis' imagined universe. I'd love to know what you think, please do listen to it at



all thoughts and any questions happily received

Part one of your Cosmic Trilogy was okay. I loved the sound effects at the end. Part two was more tunefull. The references to Perelandra were a lot more obvious. I just wish you had continued to sing on about Ransom's fight and victory over the Unman. The encomium after Ransom recovers would have made a great musical piece on it's own. The interlude was a nice break before going into the grim matters of That Hideous Strength. Part three was a sort of tone poem. I thought I could make out references to the N.I.C.E. police, the Objectivity Room and Deep Heaven comming down on Belbury.

Thanks! Wow, what a reply :-) I used part1 to sort of set the scene 'In the silence that still sings the melody, He'll be waiting' - was kind of a reference to the galactic stage of Lewis' trilogy. The sound effects you refer to at the end of part 1 as the lead into part 2 is the sound of the unman whispering 'Ransom...Nothing' over and over again. I did this by recording 10 different sets of whispers and then overlaying the whispers pitch shifted down an octave. I know what you mean about part2 sort of ending before the book hits the climax and I guess that comes down to artistic license - the song is pretty long as it is! Perhaps i'll write another song someday covering Ransom's plight against the unman in the depths of Perelandra! The interlude kind of has the altonym 'Coronation' - The major represents the triumph of the King and Queen of Perelandra over temptation, while the minor represents the sadness that Ransom would have felt knowing he was from the fallen planet. It was quite a personal and emotional ordeal writing that piece as I did it pretty much alone. I think it's my little attempt to express something of the sadness of the injustices that happen to people on our beautiful planet. As for part 3, I did leave it sort of open to interpretation but, yes, I had the NICE's headquarters very much in mind for the quiet spooky opening. I see the first uplift as kind of a reference to the emergence of the Mithrandir-esq Merlin and his allegiance to God. The big climax is, as you say, Deep Heaven and I found myself asking what would be the closest attempt at conveying this encounter with divinity in a few words. For me, i translated it as this: if I had 20 seconds until the end of the world and i had a choice to do anything, I would embrace my family for the last time, hence the lyric

'when our time comes,
i would like to,
be surrounded,
by my loved ones'

hope that's a helpful response :-)

hey, I've updated the background to our myspace page with a new image so it looks a little more crisp. Also, if you scroll halfway down the page you can see the Cosmic Trilogy EP cover which features a pencil-to-digital illustration I drew/rendered of the Eve of Perelandra!

Forget the above actually! here's the two images I've designed for the EP sleeve! one of Perelandra and one of Weston as the unman.





Thoughts much appreciated

You have captured the expressions on both Tinindril's and the Un-Man's faces quite well. The Green Lady has the look of wide eyed innocence in her wide eyes and serene moth. My only critisism is that I imagine her skin tone to be a more vibrant green. But that's just my idea. The skin tone you gave her does make her look rather placid.
As for Weston as the Un-Man ; I have always imagined Weston having a neatly trimmed beard. Your Un-Man is totally bald as well as beardless. I suppose that the demon who possesed Dr. Weston could be responsible for causing his hair loss.

Interestingly, the devil has been depicted as a bald man/woman in commercial works on a number of occasions. The image that most readily springs to mind is the devil in The Passion of the Christ (a film that I'm not a fan of... nevertheless, I felt the devil was quite chillingly effective in that form - hence: bald weston!)

Supergyre ...

If being a musician doesn't work out, try sending some of your art to D.C. and Marvel Comics. Your unman would look right at home in a cell at Arkham Asylum. And your Tinindril would make a great perfectly innocent alien who has to be protected by the hero until she morphs into some insanely powerful being and saves his hide.

first review of the EP. Critical but interesting. Mind you, Whisperin' and Hollerin' have always been tough critics!