My new album “Odyssey” is a concept album about the future of our civilization. I have spent the last year and a half of my life recording and producing this collection of ten tracks. Processed NASA sound samples open the album in the experimental first track, Prelude. Voices echo in one ear and out the other, the roar of a shuttle launch is underscored by reverb filled strings and acoustic piano, bass notes hit the subwoofer and then disappear, voice memos from my iPhone pan left and right, an announcer counts down from ground control, the crowd cheers, a voice speaks “God speed John Glenn”, we are suddenly immersed in silence as a clock starts ticking, the opening drum beats of I Will Return For You break the tension, “Odyssey” has begun. I really wanted the album to be almost like a film, an experience, to be played live. The foundation of the songs are built on dance beats, acoustic piano, EDM influenced synthesizers, melodic vocals, and cinematic sound design. The narrative of the album follows the basic pattern of The Hero’s Journey. An individual leaves Earth to search for habitable planets, explores stellar landscapes, encounters solitude, begins again with transformed soul, returns, conquers previous obstacles. The album closes with a processed sample of Jupiter. As I was finishing the album I was listening through the tracklisting on headphones, and as I fell asleep I found the sound to be a bit haunting. It sounded great in the daytime, but had a sense of desolation at night. I chose to write an optimistic ending, and instead of the space sample alone I added instruments playing a C Major chord then fading away peacefully into silence. There is a possibility our endeavors, our technology, our destiny can fall into the wrong hands. But not forever.