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Interlude I: Mercury

from Empyreum by Spirit and the Trickster

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Interlude I: Mercury
In this phase of psychological development, aspects of our outer and inner world are in conflict. The old mask doesn’t fit anymore, and we’re caught in a liminal space between the person we used to be and the one our true self desires to become. If we cling to our familiar patterns because we fear the unknown, the conflict will express itself in the form of symptoms like depression, anxiety and addiction. But when we are willing, Mercury is there to guide us. One of the most significant roles assumed by the Roman god Mercury was to escort souls of the dead to the Underworld. Symbolically, he is a connector, a bridge between worlds and states of being. If we have the courage to follow him, Mercury will lead us down to meet our shadows and find out who we really are.

Musically, this interlude plays a kind of rhythm game – sometimes with 3 beats per measure, sometimes 2, and sometimes an ambiguous hybrid that could be heard as either or both – a paradox, like conflicting conscious and unconscious desires that exist simultaneously. It also modulates through tonal extremes – from the pure and innocent C major (all the white keys on the piano) in a high register, down to G-flat (all the black keys) in the lowest register of the piano and as far away from C major as possible. The distance between C and G-flat is also known as a tritone, called “The Devil’s Interval” because it broke the rules for religious music during the Middle Ages. We also hear hints of the medieval chant of the dead, the “Dies Irae,” (“Day of Wrath”) throughout the piece. The first four notes of this chant also appear at the beginning of Mask and in an altered form in Janus and Embrace.

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from Empyreum, released September 20, 2020

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Spirit and the Trickster Houston, Texas

When a singer/songwriter and a classical pianist meet in the field of Jungian psychology, the result is a genre-bending collaboration dedicated to the exploration of archetypal themes, alchemical process, order and chaos, dreams and consciousness, and the confusing beauty of paradox. ... more

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