“Smile Ex Machina” is the opening track to a ridiculously stupid or maybe ambitious project…
A space opera album inspired by and following the map of Brian Wilson’s SMiLE.
“A masterpiece (or trash?)
The line is thin
We’re walking it”
This album is the one I made during those first three days of Fable. I didn’t notice much difference at the time from working with Opus… then I listened to it a bunch and started wondering.
Anyway, “The King is Dead” is the big space opera opener.
Something in the vocal of “My Space Opera Universe” makes me think of Rockapella, but you know, like, if they sang about a space opera universe instead of all the places Carmen Sandiego might be hiding.
Sort of where in the universe is Carmen Sandiego, I guess.
“Growing Apart from My Clone” is like crossing the two Crichtons in Farscape with Cabinessence from Brian Wilson’s SMiLE.
Yes, I know that makes zero sense. It’s also glorious.
“Over and over
The orbit goes over
And under the same old sun
We grew from one”
This album is supposed to be a space opera reimagining of SMiLE (I know that’s ridiculous, yes), but the sweet, ponderous energy of “Some Questions” makes me think a lot of “Please Let Me Wonder” from The Beach Boys Today!
The message of “Trust the Process” is one I need to hear a lot lately.
And while it doesn’t jump out as the most obviously catchy track, it has a way of creeping up on you, getting stuck in your head, and just being there for you, all soothing.
A big shift is coming for communities trying to deny AI. While waiting, I listen to this song:
“The birds went quiet on the market moon
The tide came in an hour soon
The old monk smiled & locked the gate
Said, nothing now to do but wait”
“When the merry-go-round stops spinning
And the stars keep spinning on
And you’re dizzy, dizzy, dizzy
With the carnival gone
Which spinning was the real one
The horses or the sky
I rode so long I can’t recall
And the stars don’t say goodbye”
“Sun-Drenched” fills the niche of “Wind Chimes” in SMiLE, setting off the elements suite. Of course, it’s different elements in space — vacuum, time, gravity, and sunlight.
For sunlight, I wanted it to sound like dripping golden honey.
“Vacuum, schmacuum
That’s what he’d say
If he could say things
But he can’t, that’s okay
…
Me and my pet tardigrade
Champion of the cosmic grade
Irradiated, frozen, boiled, or dried
He’s been through it all and he’s still by my side”
“A sliver in the evening like a clipping from the sun
A parenthesis of silver saying something’s just begun
And I’m waxing, waxing poetic
On the patio alone
Every month the sky starts over
Every month the moon comes home”
Alright, so, it’s pretty pretentious and doomed-to-fail ambitious to try making a space opera version of SMiLE… and even worse, “Sweet Gravitation” falls in the “Good Vibrations” spot… so… yeah.
But it is pretty fun to listen to.
The title of “Sonic Oasis” came from a phrase near the end of Mike Love’s autobiography. In order to get the right sound, I ended up adding “cozy” as a flavor word to the end of my prompt which apparently pushes songs into an island direction.