Samsara

this first record of music collecting the spirit of friends and band mates into a single, cohesive and multilayered voice, guided by the stars of our own radiant milky way wilderness, includes Mark Allen on baritone and soprano saxophones and flute, Jon Rees on alto saxophone and flute, Dylan Babitch on piano and fender rhodes, Ian Brick on electric guitar, Jon Smith on electric bass, and Jason Fraticelli and Brian Howell on upright bass. i went to music school with most all of these guys, (except Jason, whom i met through mutual friends), where this group was conceived and went through various growths and forms performing around philadelphia. this music has been in the making for nearly 5 or 6 years now, and was recorded in january 2011 at morningstar studios.

this first record of music collecting selected songs from three years composing scribbled to 2011 begins with short meditation on youth & soaring archetype image-song of flight; continues with praise-prayer painting recollecting dawn summer hikes through northern california 300 ft. ancient tall redwood earth forest cathedrals - one in particular named simpson-reed grove; back to city illusion-mind samsara trickster games of reality before universe dream'd into brief song poem-psalm map; next trying on warrior masks of hero melodies; then cathartic deluge of spirit to come flood our earth vision'd w/ heaven and ending w/ auspicious omen-blessed beginning sign of one heart mind.

this first record of music collecting the broadcast doings of day and night within my 24-year-old drummer consciousness is really a summary of my path traveled so far in this wild life - a sort of melodic autobiography of the state of my soul woken up in this world, so briefly aware it's alive and caught in a reverent fog of wonder and awe. some of these compositions came fully formed and dripping wet new like flowers bloomed over night to my surprise, which i would dutifully transcribe out on piano and arrange for this group, while others came in small waves gradually eroding and carving out their shape in the limestone of my mind and dreams. "map of the universe," for example, was a gift from the wind in a dream i had, walking through a dawn forest in total serenity, calm, and peace, then surprise delight at hearing its melody breezing through the tops of trees, playing and rustling their branches and leaves, hearing and feeling it flow through me as well, through the millions of pores & cells, rivers & small temples of my body, a threshold itself, a strange meeting place of energies.

this first record of music collecting the deep intuitions and mystic lessons received in trance states and channeled through, individualized through, my 24-year-old hands and ears, heart and thoughts, is a concept album designed to instill in the listener a broad experience of inspiration and unbridled joy at the mystery of being, here and now. this music was composed or received, inspired by a series of visions and experiences that forced open the timid animal of my heart so wide that i took it to be a holy experience, a cosmic unity felt and breathed, understood but not in words. these songs are intended to be dropped into the oceanic depths of the listeners subconscious where deep down they’ll detonate, exploding old loops and behaviors of fear and doubt, making room for the expanse of soul, the birth of awakening, a type of return to eden, where anything is possible and Love reigns Supreme.

this first record of music is a live broadcast of nebulas performing star-birth watercolors in space, a sort of harmonic ballet suspended in time and space, stretching the vast distances of the mind.

this first record of music is the round sentient flesh-globe of water, earth, and cloud, singing through one of its own.

thanks for listening,

Mike Mahoney, April 2012.
Wallingford