Of Sand and Stars - Album
Released: June 12th, 2020
"Of Sand and Stars" is Isaac Cabrera's debut album. This album is a very experimental effort with guitars, synthesizers, monologues, and even poems being thrown into the mix! The album is a unique mix of electronic synthwave with tastes of indie pop and psychedelic/post-rock. "Of Sand and Stars" is Isaac's most serious effort to compose narrative driven music. In fact, even the album title is an attempt to set the stage for the music on earth and in space.
The 9 tracks in this album compose a space odyssey in 3 acts:
The first act sets up the context of our story. We begin with “Intro - The Shadow Teller” where a dark voice warns us that the destruction of the world is imminent and the result of our own careless actions. “Monoliths of Stone” introduces us to our protagonist Montag who manages to be the sole survivor of the apocalypse. He wanders the streets of a city he once knew and takes in the desolation. Montag ultimately decides that life is not worth living anymore and unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide. He ends up in a trancelike state not knowing whether he is alive or dead in the track “Suspended Animation”.
The second act builds the plot of the story. In “Unplanned Resurrection”, Montag’s body is brought back to life by aliens who abduct him from earth. Once he is alive again, the aliens introduce him to their research vessel (“Cosmic Vessel”) which is powered by a form of artificial intelligence. This spaceship is filled with wonders from all corners of the universe. Montag is delighted to discover that another human, a woman named Elizabeth, also survived humanity’s extinction and is aboard the ship. The two characters frolic among the stars and fall in love with each other in “Interstellar Voyage”.
The third act builds tension, leads to the climax of our story, and concludes with a final resolution. In “The Harvest”, Elizabeth is abducted and killed by the alien crew. Montag watches in horror as her brain is harvested. It turns out that the ship was not powered by artificial intelligence but was instead run by a hive mind of countless brains. Isolated and alone again, Montag is locked away where he sulks after he realizes that he is the next one to be killed (“Look at Me Sorrow”). However, right as he is about to give up hope, a hologram of Elizabeth comes to visit him. Although her body is gone, her conscience still exists within the hive mind and she helps Montag to escape his prison. Montag fights his way across the ship, guided by Elizabeth's hologram, and ultimately makes it to an escape pod. The album concludes with our protagonist blasting off from the alien vessel and heading back towards earth (“Epilogue – Return to Earth”). On his final descent, Montag is surprised to discover that other people survived the apocalypse. These survivors guide him back safely down to the earth’s surface where he begins his life anew.
*Release Notes: Writing this album was a really strange and surreal experience for Isaac. The story came to Isaac in a dream while he was studying abroad in Oxford back in 2016, and for a while it was nothing more than a crazy dream. Inspired by a spark of creativity following "Monoliths of Stone", Isaac enjoyed writing music that was free from typical songwriting and music conventions. The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 offered him a chance to sit down and finally finish "Of Sand and Stars". Isaac's ultimate dream is to turn this crazy space odyssey into an animated feature with music from the album.
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ART VIDEOS
Making "Of Sand and Stars"
Official Artwork
Bonus Artwork
