Life Sidereal by Erothyme
Life Sidereal is a journey to a world in orbit around a distant star. In the course of such a voyage, feelings of profound isolation and vulnerability are balanced with feelings of absolute awe and cosmic-scale reciprocity. Of course, the caravan is very comfortable, and everything possible has been done to make this temporary habitat accommodating - it really feels like a little slice of Earth, wandering off on its own, complete with every 24th century convenience and every balanced, functioning ecosystem one could hope for - but those on board are well aware that it will be many years before they see another sunset. All those glistening city lights and beacons scattered amongst the Saturnian moons are well worth seeing as one passes them, but soon they will seem more remote than they do from Earth. In the enormous gulf of darkness between the stars, the mysteries of the universe unfold, unveiled, all around the traveler, and millions of jewel-like points of light shine in every direction throughout the very cradle of all creation, but due to the relativistic effects of moving at very high speeds, one must (at least temporarily) lose all meaningful contact with everyone they’ve ever known outside the caravan.
The Sun may recede to become a mere pinpoint of light if one were to travel far enough, and though it may sound illogical, even in the act of creating such a vast gulf between oneself and one’s source, the observer who looks upon their home star system from the outside may find themselves confronted by unprecedented surges of self-recognition - whether or not they feel compelled to return. However large the distance our worldlines may ever trace across space and time, they remain inextricably connected by a continuous thread to their point of origin.
Life Sidereal also represents Erothyme’s journey, under the aegis of Bluetech, into the world of analogue & modular synthesis, and the effort to integrate these explorations with the more (personally) familiar worlds of digital music production, field-recording based sound design, and conventional instrumentation. This album was recorded and produced between 2020 and 2023, a time during which living and working in a room full of blinking machines felt a bit like interstellar travel to many of us. Numerous stars were gazed upon during the production of this album. Only a few were visited.
Tracklist
Videos
Credits
Stay tuned for vinyl...
2024, Behind The Sky Music
Music by Bobby West (Erothyme)
Mastered by Shawn Hatfield (Audible Oddities)
Cover art by Evan Bartholomew (Bluetech)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
—— INSTRUMENTAL & VOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Kirk Kubicek - drums (tracks 1, 5, 11, 12)
Andy Skellenger - tablas (track 9)
Jessica Sirena - vocals (track 1)
Sarah Anjali - vocals (track 3)
Bobby West (Erothyme) - piano, rhodes,
keys, guitar, clarinet, vox (throughout).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
—————— GEAR USED ——————
[an extensive (but surely incomplete) list]:
— SYNTHS / DRUM MACHINES
ARP Odyssey
KORG Minilogue
KORG Monologue
Roland TR-6S
— CONTROLLERS
Arturia Beatstep Pro
AKAI MPK249
— EURORACK MODULES
ALM / Busy Circuits Pamela’s New Workout
Intellijel uMIDI
Micro Ornament & Crime
WMD / SSF Spectrum
Noise Engineering Basimilus Iteratus Alter
Intellijel Plonk
ALM Busy Circuits Tangle Quartet
Intellijel Dual ADSR
XAOC Devices Batumi + Poti
Mutable Instruments Tides
AJH Synth Mega-Phase 12
Hexinverter Électronique Red Dragon
Rossum Morpheus Stereo Morphing Z-Plane Filter
Schlappi Engineering Interstellar Radio
Instruo Scion
Qu-Bit Electronix Prism
uBurst (Clouds clone)
nRings (Rings clone)
— MICS & RECORDING DEVICES
Tascam DR-40
Tascam Portacapture X8
Zoom H6
Audio Technica DR-VX2
M-Audio Pulsar [x2]
Shure SM57
Tidbit Audio Hydrophone
SOMA Laboratory Ether Anti-Radio
— SOFTWARE
Ableton Live (+ stock devices)
EmissionControl2
Paulstretch
Delta-V Audio Spacecraft
Decent Sampler
Pianobook Winter Voices
Spitfire LABS
Klevgrand Pipa
LHI Audio St4b
2CAudio Breeze2
Minimal Audio Rift
Unfiltered Audio Indent 2
Oeksound Soothe & Spiff
Soundtheory Gullfoss
— OTHER SOUND SOURCES
sticks, rocks, bark, water, ice, wind, rain,
birds, frogs, insects, ceramic, porcelain, glass, etc.
Assorted drum breaks & samples
Mr. Bill samples
NASA
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
—— SPECIAL THANKS
- Evan (Bluetech),
for launching this project & enabling
my dive into modular synthesis.
- Evan (Skytree),
for co-piloting modular exploration
sessions, & referencing sessions.
- Anthony (EarthCry),
for modular advice, mix advice, &
that hand-me-down beatstep pro.
- Ian (Craftal),
for hosting and enabling my one big
piano recording for this album.
- Patrick (Digital Vagabond),
for having me play this album at
your birthday party in the woods.
- Kris (EARadiate, Microtone Studios)
for EQ wisdom & a referencing
session near album completion.
- Aaron (Cualli),
for referencing sessions, both
earlier on and near completion.
- Nate (Shwex),
for suggesting the Interstellar Radio module,
which was clearly perfect for this album.
License
All rights reserved.Tags
The Erothyme sound is a majestic blend of overblown hyperbole and meaningless adjectives that actually have nothing to do with music. His tracks land in your ear like a dolphin gracefully diving into the surface of the ocean after doing a triple backflip in front of the setting sun. Some people think that Erothyme doesn't be like he is, but he do.