SUMMARY
This site’s music collection began with Songs from the Sands, an album of music accompanying the release of the 10th Anniversary edition of the Daughter of Time trilogy, a complete rewrite of the books by the author (preserving plot, characters, and scenes, but altering the style to reflect his evolution as a writer). The lyrics are taken from the poetry found at the beginning of each of the seven parts of the third book, Maker, a sonnet cycle ascribed to the character Sepehr Mazandarani in the novel. Free digital books for this new version and associated digital music are available for download (this website, Bandcamp, Internet Archive).
The process of generating music to accompany verse proved so rewarding, the author has continued under the conceit of Mazandarani contacting him from the future with art (or is it a conceit?), producing more music. A second album is now released, Still Life with Typhoon, a collection of verse from the poet's past, re-written from his current artistic place and perspective, with an eye to becoming song. From hundreds of poems were selected eleven. Several common themes connect them, often rather dark, born from the battering tempests of life, undergirded by a flickering but persistent flame of hope and love.
Streaming Services
Play the Music Here
VINYL & CD
The albums are also available in Vinyl and CD formats through a print-on-demand model.This means each ordered disc is printed on the spot (or as soon as that order goes through their queue) and shipped directly from the company. This obviates the need for large print runs and long-term storage that accompany standard vinyl pressings. Digital previews of the vinyl and CD packages are below and an order button.
Vinyl album video preview; thumbnail is the illustrated inner sleeve of the record with lyrics printed.
CD album video preview; thumbnail is the CD partially open showing printed lining.
Lyric Videos
BACKGROUND
Mazandarani is the name of a minor but tragic figure in the trilogy. He was deeply but unrequitedly in love with, and utterly devoted to, the Daughter of Time. And he served her well.
The conceit in this new project, mirroring that of the trilogy itself, is that powerful forces from the future who can shape space, time, and consciousness, have reached back in time to communicate with the author's mind. This is in order to pass on messages in the “now” that will positively affect the future.
As the first novel, Reader, notes in its first chapter:
“On the cover of this book, you’re reading an author’s name. He believes this story is full of his ideas, born from his own mind. It’s not. I am writing it through him. In his delusion, it’s all part of a clever plot he’s stitched together, down to this very sentence saying he isn’t writing it. Instead, it is the effort of my mind reaching out, back through what you call time. I inspire him, shape his thoughts, convince him of this reality.”
In this musical project, the Daughter of Time chooses to speak through the poetry of Mazandarani, not only in the static verse on the pages of the novel she inspired Erec Stebbins to write, but also through music that she has led him to produce. It is another attempt through various media to shape the consciousness of the past toward building a better future.
SYNTHETIC MUSIC
To be completely transparent, the music in “Songs from the Sands” is AI generated. Given the author's current means, time, and talents, he could not have composed or commissioned songs in completely different genres for multiple albums that are made to his own tastes and hopes for the poetry. AI music generation empowered him to realize this vision.
For the AI-pathic: In the midst of how the greedy billionaires and power-drunk rulers of our world abuse all technology, you might consider these creations as a positive example of what this tech could be. Plowshares or swords, every technology was built upon the efforts of many in our species over generations (“I stand on the shoulders of giants”), and each has brought beauty and horror depending on how it was wielded. AI is no different. While some pervert it for the darkest evils and mundane slop, it doesn't have to be that way. In that spirit, these songs are offered as a counter example. Imagine the better future if our tech were used exclusively for beauty and good. The choice is always in front of us, as it has always been.
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The “Daughter of Time” trilogy rewrite (including poems) and all synthetic music are placed into the public domain (CC0) by the author and producer, Erec Stebbins, with no restrictions on use. There is no monetization.
Because in this age it is important for transparency, I'll note that no AI was used for the writings (the books or the lyrics). I don't believe it is inherently "wrong" to use AI in writing to realize a vision (it is a tool, one that I believe can augment creativity when used intelligently), but because many consider any use of it as "fake", I felt I had to address this issue.