PSYKĒ
Singing the inner life.
Orbiting Source
Orbiting Source asks the timeless question: Why am I here? Humanity has yet to provide a satisfactory answer to this question, but it's something we all ask ourselves. This is a song for the young, for those standing at the crossroads of life, and for those seeking direction. It is a sonic reminder to look in the deepest place inside us—versus the outside world—for the answers we seek.
How this song came to be
I composed this song entirely in Patagonia. At the time, we lived in a tiny, drafty, upcycled cabin heated by firewood and inhabited by hundreds of tiny spiders. I remember sitting on the bed—the only surface comfortable enough for a computer and keyboard—and hearing the three violins come together at 1:49 for the first time, breath caught at their beauty.
Musically, I was exploring circularity: the spiral of life, the DNA-like form of untempered music, existence, meaning, and purpose. As a composer, there comes a moment when the music leads and you simply follow. This song holds many such moments: it pulls you inward, carries you through portals, cleaves toward the innate, toward the seed of it all. It invites you to pause there for a moment, unfolding.
Lyrics
“I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I’ve been circling for thousands of years
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?”
(Source: “Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God,” by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, used with permission)
“People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two
worlds touch
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep”
(Source: “The Essential Rumi” by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission)
Tell me, who is it you want to be, in this brief fierce and fragile world?
“The door is wide and open
You must ask for what you really want”
(Source: “The Essential Rumi” by Jalal al-Din Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, used with permission)