So the "story behind the song" series continues with track 2, Dream Of A Gentle Apocalypse.  What can I really say about this one?  It is literally based on a dream I had - at least the vague recollections I had of it the next day.  I obviously was in a bit of a strange mood when I fell asleep for my mind to come up with this kind of imagery but the strange thing about it was that it was by no means a nightmare.  I remember waking up the next morning feeling somewhat disoriented by it but it had not been frightening, just strange and very surreal.  I also remember all the images passing by very slowly and quietly, not the chaos you would expect from an apocalypse and that's where the idea of the "gentle" apocalypse came in.  I wasn't inspired to write anything down initially but after a few days of thinking about it a couple of verses came to mind.

I was almost going to leave it at only two verses but a while after the initial dream I had another one that was a bit similar and had a "judgement day" feel to it.  I have a feeling this one was inspired by the book I was reading at the time, "Riven Rock" by T.C. Boyle which is based on the life of Stanley McCormick (quite an irony but no relation to me as far as I know) who had suffered from schizophrenia and had been tormented by "the judges" his entire adult life.  And so the third verse was conceived as the final reckoning for all of this chaos and ended the song in a more logical way I think.

And that's pretty much it.  I had already sketched out some of the music during an earlier experiment and adapted it a bit to fit the verses etc.  I think this is one of the strangest pieces I have ever created and reflects heavily on the influence of film scores in my music.  Perhaps there will be more like it to come in the future!