a look at 'Mirror of Light'

With 'Mirror of Light' I was looking to do something that sounded grandiose and otherworldly, or more appropriately, afterworldly. The inspiration came from a book I read many years ago called 'Face to Face with Jesus Christ' by David Sereda. It tells a fascinating story of what the author believes happens spiritually at the moment of death, and how a person may end up in a heavenly, purgatory/astral/middle or hell realm. I'm not sure, really, what to make of the conclusions of this decidedly very New Age book. (Ok, yeah, I admit I was into New Age philosophy back then, when I didn't know any better). Anyway the book basically asks: "When you die, will you flee in terror when the divine light of the holy spirit reflects your own self back to you, revealing the amount of love in your heart? (the mirror of light). Or, can you withstand the potentially traumatic purification, by the holy spirit, that is necessary in order to be able to enter Heaven?"

Musically, the key for me to capturing the essence of what I wanted to achieve was all in the harmony. The main sections of the piece are built upon an ascending series of cluster chords, over a descending bass line, which 'wrap around' every 4 measures. From there, it was a matter of coming up with a haunting melody to put on top. The middle and ending sections, where the very modal-like piano meanders around, act as a sort of trance-like release from the harmonic tension.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, and I haven't done anything else quite like it. The end result is very cinematic, I think. Probably because I take a very film-music like approach to my instrumental composing, which stands in contrast to my rock songs.

Listen to Mirror of Light

(note: Mr. Sereda has also put out a fascinating video about UFO's and an alleged NASA cover-up. He is definitely an interesting and controversial guy to say the least...)