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Cycles & Shadows

by Mark Sheeky

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    Jewel cased CD with 4-page booklet. Limited Edition lino-printed disc. Each is unique and hand numbered.

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1.
In eternal cycle the wheels turn the suns move cells pulsate and multiply information is transmitted with errors that transform, evolve, form islands of stable structures, form islands that can self-replicate, with errors that transform to increase complexity, magnitude, beauty of crystal genius, in endless line of growth and collapse, reborn to burn, as the suns move as the wheels turn in eternal cycle.
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Intrauterine 03:52
Once upon a time this was heaven, this was real, this was human Once upon a time. Once upon a time this was heaven.
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The smoke of childhood lingers, it weeps beneath arches of memory, sugar-glass temples of deception, window to that past of ever-sun. White autumn strokes, cries in a peopled mist. Where now does the path lead? Downwards, and soft ever-flowing. We gaze behind, upwards to those stone shadows which once we touched, ever out of reach, ever more distant.
10.
Agh! Oh how I burn, for that which will never be mine. Shivering thin branch, me. My forebearers weep. Agh! Oh how I burn, for the corridor is long and black. Lined with closed doors, a crisp light around their edge, voices ever beyond. My forebearers weep. God! Where are you?! There was no answer.
11.
I drift in crowds. I glimpse the dark echo of my face in a window. It looks old. I am old. How did this happen? Cells fragment. They hold aloft loved structures, this dusty cathedral, monument to our every experience. This web of tiny animals, our always-friends who live and die for us, yet never know us.
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Doorways 04:06
This is everything I am, and all I have done. What is a life but a line upon which we are a travelling speck. We draw these. For all of my life I have strove to create. Filled with music, visions, words, concepts, ever battling to wrestle these monsters into a reality to share, ever pressed for time, peace, money, always a struggle, results always inferior to my ability, and now I am old and poor and alone. I look up, with tired eyes at my paintings, my music, my poems, the wall of this once-childhood room. My work looks back, and I feel loved. This is everything I am, and all I have done. I make a mark, and walk on to yet greater ground. I have no other purpose.
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about

Cycles & Shadows is a culmination of over a year of new musical exploration in musical structures, and continual live piano performances. Influences include artists as diverse as Sparks, Scott Walker, David Lynch, Kate Bush and Beethoven; but all peripheral. Musically, this is a substantial evolution.

The album consists of two distinct halves. Cycles is essentially a piano concerto in six movements for synthetic orchestra. It was born from the Cycles art performance developed for Chester Cathedral in September 2016, and is an examination of information and structures in music, and a comparison with different biological structures and states. A simple theme is explored in different ways that echo the life-cycle of a cell or organism.

Shadows, the second half of the album, consists of songs with unusual structures. Influenced by contemporary freeform poetry, the songs follow the same improvisational style, using words and music to convey meaning and emotion in a depth that is unusual in modern songs.

Shadows is thematically about ageing, childlessness, and the redeeming power of art. Musically, different keys and themes are explored and later revisited and transformed in a joyous conclusion, something that both Shadows and Cycles have in common.

Technically this was the first of Mark's albums to be recorded in 24-bit quality, created using his custom-designed synthesizer and sequencer, Prometheus. Many new recording techniques were used for this album, and part of the challenge in creating Cycles & Shadows was technical, processing large quantities of live recordings for the first time, often pushing to the limits of the technology. The software required additional programming to add new functionality, often functions designed to destroy the technology, to wrestle control from the cold computer and place in back into human hands.

The piano playing was live, and much the composition work involved using the piano recordings as the skeleton, with other instruments carefully layered over these parts like a gossamer collage, always aiming to retain the mood and feeling of the live performance.

Cycles and Shadows is a work about emotion, a Romantic album developed to place humanity above technology, developed to be the antithesis, and antidote, to other music of the early 21st century.

Originally recorded and released in 2017, in 2024 the album was remixed and remastered, including a new version of Cycles III. Download order includes complete official sheet music and lyric booklet.

credits

released February 9, 2024

Music, lyrics and production by Mark Sheeky
PRS for Music

Mark Sheeky: Prometheus, P105 Piano, Vocals
Deborah Edgeley as Alice
Location recordings Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme; Grosvenor Shopping Centre, Macclesfield

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Mark Sheeky Crewe, UK

Mark Sheeky is a surrealist artist from the North of England. His music began as synth, game influenced, music then experimental classical piano and art rock/art pop, and surrealist rock music.

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