Anne O’Malley and the Event Horizons is the first album I made that wasn’t either a soundtrack for one of my short story collections or composed of poetry I’d already written, so it was a big leap. And it turned out so well; I can’t believe it’s real.
“Stealing Promethean Fire” is a song about how AI has made it possible for some of us to create things we couldn’t have created before. It’s about being able to make music now that makes me feel the way Brian Wilson’s music always made me feel.
“Klein Bottle Water Slide” is a pretty self-explanatory title. If you can hear that title and not want to listen to the song, then… well, I can’t identify with that at all.
“Brian’s Gone” was inspired by Mike Love’s “Brian’s Back,” and to me, it’s the real heart of the whole album.
Brian Wilson’s music was the heartbeat of life. It was the warmth of the sun. What does a planet do when the sun goes out?
“Waiting for the World” is an answer to “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.” And of course, it can’t reach those heights… what can? But it does have more of a sci-fi angle, so that’s worth something.
We need more sci-fi music. And I’m working on that.
I came up with the hook for “Watching the Moon Bounce” when I was fifteen and deeply believed if I could just write lyrics good enough, I could send them to Brian Wilson and become his lyricist.
I spent decades coming back to it, and I never got anywhere until now.
It’s insanely satisfying to finally be able to listen to the whole song and for it to be every bit as good as I always dreamed.
Look if you’re gonna do a Beach Boys-influenced sci-fi album, it’s gotta have a song about surfing the cloud layers of a gas giant. So, that’s what you get with “Bright, Sharp, Fleeting,” and it always makes my day better when it gets stuck in my head.
“Back in the Same Dream” is a song about how you can keep coming back to the same imaginary place in your dreams, and maybe, it’s a better place than out here.
In Stranger Things, Hopper explains the concept of compromise to El by calling it “halfway happy,” and I thought that would make a good concept for a song. But of course, I went in a space opera direction with it.
What is music for if not to help you imagine having both tentacles and wings?
“(Don’t) Say Anything” is another idea I’ve been playing with since I was 15, and I never imagined it would turn out this beautiful.
The abilities Claude Opus and Suno grant me working together have made the last month feel like an absolute waking dream.
There’s a lot going on in “Singularity’s Edge.” It references Smile-era Van Dyke Parks lyrics, Circle Sky by Mike Nesmith, and wrestles with how something can’t be perfect until it’s over… and then all you really want is to be back in the messy middle.