We are the authors of space-time, we must embrace our true role. This album presents an opportunity for using your ears to explore some of the seemingly impossible and fantastic ideas of Deepak Chopra musically, inside your own mind.
A full electronic symphony
Inspired by Deepak Chopra’s book Metahuman, Sverre Knut Johansen plays Sequential Prophet X and Pro 3, and so much more, opening a portal to deep inner space, employing instruments as noted in the track details. On three tracks jazz musician Ståle Storløkken plays Haken Audio Continiuum. This album was mastered by Howard Givens at Spotted Peccary Studios NW in Portland, Oregon. What I hear is a full electronic symphony, often with a space-rock form of higher consciousness, in places light and sparkly, and in other places much more complex, deep and rich with textures, pulses and powerful melodic wonder.
From the void comes form, and from the form comes motion and dance, “METAHUMAN” (3:37) establishes the groove, a sense of wonderment is invoked, hypnotized by the brilliance of that pulsing core of light, swirling bright gas around the starlike, throbbing core. Ståle Storløkken plays Haken Audio Continiuum on this track, to reflect the cosmos, including orderliness, balance, harmony, logic, and abstract beauty.
Darker themes emerge on the second track, building into a separate solid form, the power of energy, with cogent strings stretched under a brazen sky, beneath a stupendous Sun. There is a mild rumbling and tumbling off in deep space, some spooky distant synthesizers echoing and swirling in blackness. This is the prodigal otherworldly rover of the album, feeling the kinetic power of the pulse, molding the universe’s chaos, the intoxicating colors of coursing energy. This is the longest track, it builds to a powerful beat, and ultimately fades into mist in the end, we live in a mind-made fiction. The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety. “HUMAN (Path Of Destruction)” (10:34), the word destruction is probably more of a daredevil prophesy than a description of the sound. The musical feeling is positive and provides a strong uplifting groove, surely destruction would not have such honest beauty. This concept is different. The myth of the human as a machine is harmful, we must metaphorically blow open your body, mind, and soul to find that consciousness is the sole creator of self, mind, brain, body and the universe.
Storløkken plays Haken Audio Continuum on the third track, “Unity Of Existence Through Evolution” (8:48), which is contemplative and gentle; the beat operates within a slow inquisitive mood with changing elements. Lift up your eyes to the sky, on towards unknown worlds of distant stars beyond the wide, uncharted reaches of deep space, the vastness of space-time, with its myriad stars and planets, the ceaseless drama of life. We are the authors of space-time, we must embrace our true role. The story never begins or ends—it merely ‘becomes,’ and you already possess this ultimate potential. Salve!
Beyond the wide, uncharted reaches of deep space ::
The strength builds and broadens into a wide atmospheric dancing ground, a form that brings light to the world, wide circles, graceful glides, a solid beat sustains, the pulse is strong, and rising. You might want to pull up your sturdy cosmic dancing shoes, much territory is spanned and then floats upwards, to fade into a pleasant extended psychedelic darkness. “Immortal” (5:44) allows life to make sense as never before, life becomes transformed as you explore the infinite potential, the miracle of our very existence. Chopra claims that one may attain “perfect health,” free from disease and never age or die. Human aging is fluid and changeable, it can speed up, slow down, stop for a time, and even reverse itself, yielding indestructable new dimensions of stress-free living and joyful living, positioning building blocks taking you stepping on a journey through this current Fairy Tale we call life. Roll up!
Sweet slow rising layers build into a powerful pulse with sparkles, then glides upwards, into “META (The Light Inside You)” (6:24). This touches on the eternal forever spirit again, consistent and nourishing as it wings upwards, repeating circles of light, perhaps I hear an m’bira-core orbit, you might move past the limitation constructed by the mind to encounter a faint-glowing mass of vapor with a brighter core. Using his collection of synths, electronic percussion, electric guitars, and sound design software, weaving melody, rhythm, and texture into a captivating musical tapestry that constantly evolves, revealing secret treasures from a distant place and bringing light to the world, Johansen plays the Haken ContinuuMini on this track. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning, an ancient philosophy called The Direct Path, is hopefully serving our own evolution.
Now we are all dancing slowly. “METAHUMAN (Extended)” (9:51) has a slightly slower feeling, maybe wider, this longer track explores and expands the theme, allowing for a new message, explanation—and exploration, which is that only by going beyond everyday life can we change what it means to be human today, to claim the future. The universe has deep resources, a finger of light into the sky, amid wisps of smoke, clouds of silver, places of secrets, elegant and with wisdom hidden in it, thus Storløkken plays the Haken Audio Continiuum. There might be a science of dreaming, consciousness is much more than pure abstract reason, crossing the ancient chasm, cautiously emerging into percussive motion and pulse, a dance into the fullness of time and what lies hidden. Journey through echoes to find the sense of awe that astronomers experience when observing outer space through telescopes, a mind-expanding view into our inner space. In fact it’s thousands of years old. You can hear it.
We are all dancing slowly ::
“Fluctuations Of Awareness” (7:55) is slow and thick in places, with textures and surprises that drift and fade in an atmosphere of gradual metamorphosis. I might sense alternate bands of red, blue, yellow, and white strata, a fraction of a violet glimmer, adding a ghostly radiance. Logistical obstacles are opportunities in disguise. Such openings allow for rhythm and pulses to lead the way up into the vast beyondscape. Consciousness is the sole creator of self, mind, brain, body and the universe. We are more than the universe itself, because the universe is only one expression of the fundamental, grounding, metahuman source that emanates, nurtures, and transcends us all. When you make a choice, you change the future. Sometimes I feel almost like I am looking into a star, looking into the glowing, pulsing core, spatial starlight unfiltered by any atmosphere; Johansen plays the Haken ContinuuMini on this track.
As we ponder a mind-expanding view into our inner sonic light show, suddenly showers of sparks skitter about and we veer into a tunnel, the corner turns into a night sky that goes forever, “Miracle Of Existence” (7:34) creates a new paradigm of health for humanity, or is that just me, entirely by practicing essential positivity. Gradual deepening and layering, sustaining a slow exploration that is darker in places, always keeping a consistent pulse and life force, this is an inward spin. Imagine wind that sounds a bit like fields of dry whistles and synthesizers, developing into a beat that could be like a heartbeat, and it just keeps going and changing, sometimes a prisoner of the past, otherwise a pioneer of the future, our non-physical experience is a paradoxical journey beyond the physical and the deeply hidden.
On the final track, the amazing David Helpling activates his electric guitar, synthesizers, and piano, while Johansen plays Steinberger bass guitar in addition to his ordinary studio wizardly contributions. “Infinity Being” (6:13) brings a haunting melodic atmosphere, full of subtle vistas, a cycling melody that returns to our dream castle. Here is where the limitless lingers. The vastness of space-time sings, with its myriad stars and planets moving beyond our present limitations of the mind to access a field of infinite possibilities. We are more than we think.
Sverre Knut Johansen has a master’s degree in music technology from NTNU in Trondheim, Norway (2009). His first commercially released collaborative musical adventure was an EP of space rock titled Void (not on a label, 1980). Using his amazing collection of synths, electronic percussion, electric guitars, and sound design software, Johansen creates his tracks with a creativity that stimulates the ears and sparks the imagination, weaving a captivating musical tapestry. His sound’s melodies, rhythms, and textures come together, constantly evolving throughout the entire journey. Johansen has at times allowed his listeners to become Krononauts, providing a path to the extreme distances of time, sometimes to explore the creation of the universe, and other times just for the speculative wonderment.
A path to the extreme distances of time ::
Ståle Storløkken is a Norwegian jazz musician (keyboards, organ and piano) and composer, known for finding new sounds, finding new ways of playing, writing new music, and for his collaborations with artists like Terje Rypdal, BigBang, Supersilent and Motorpsycho. He is married to the Norwegian singer Tone Åse. Another one of his inspirations is the sound of free improvisation, specifically the zesty intuitive freedom of Joe Zawinul who is best known for his legendary jazz-rock group Weather Report.
David Helpling collaborated on the final track, “Infinity Being,” contributing guitar, synthesizers, and piano. With Helpling, exploration is key to increasing our appreciation of the world of sound, the listening experience is about making discoveries, things that are unusual and unexpected. Chasing the Ambient Guitar dream, Helpling absolutely loves working with synthesizers and samplers, electric guitars and keyboards. You can hear it in his strange machines magnifying and projecting the sound, gliding towards achieving the spiritual height and steadiness that we are all here for.
Perhaps knowledge cannot be defined through perception, because of the vastness of space-time, with its myriad stars and planets, and the ceaseless drama of life. We are the authors of space-time, we must embrace our true role. This album presents an opportunity for using your ears to explore some of the seemingly impossible and fantastic ideas of Deepak Chopra musically, inside your own mind. Considering the possibilities for healing and intentional positive growth that can be cultivated, the music might be a catalyst for new ideas, new interpretations of the evidence we have found so far, new ways of finding more evidence, and new lessons to apply for how we move forward. In the midst of movement and chaos, where nothing is impossible, be fearless for the people of today and the challenges we all face.
METAHUMAN is available on Spotted Peccary. [Bandcamp | Release page]
