Itchy
SÖM SÂPTÂLAHN
Available on 2 LP 180g black wax
And from the unknowable depths of Sem Nullah emerged a vibration, and from the vibration a sound. And the sound was a mighty sound. And the sound did call forth Thee Itchy-O, and in turn Thee itchy-O did call forth the sound.
And the universe stilled and the metals took their hardened form and a beautiful and dark dream weaved its way through the cosmos...
– The Codec of Thee itchy-O
DIVINE RESONANCE; THE PRIMAL BOND BETWEEN MUSIC AND MAGICK
Early ancestors inhabited a world lost to today’s modern rationalists. More in tune with the natural world, they shared the intuition that imagination was a faculty of perception, perhaps even superior to the five primary senses most familiar to us today. Their experience was of a world of unmediated wonder, terror, and awe. Today, still subject to the same anxieties, desires, and biology, we lack the tools and vocabulary to exercise our spiritual faculties to exorcize the demons that haunt our innermost dreams or exalt the forces that conspire for our benefit. This spiritual impoverishment lies at the heart of the malaise of the modern world. From a Jungian perspective–blind to our own collective shadow, we project it onto others, othering them as we alienate ourselves, becoming more fragmented and isolated even as the world grows smaller and more interconnected.
The ancients found connection to self, community, and other through ritual. Ritual binds community with the cycles of life, the seasons, and the movement of the celestial bodies. The rhythms of nature find rhyme in the rhythms of ritual. The first sound a mammal experiences is the warm, life-giving beat of their mother’s heart washing over and through them. The electrochemical frequencies, patterns, and rhythms of our nervous system determine how alert or at ease we are. Just as the beating of the heart sustains the life of the body, the beating of the drum sustains the ritual. As the axiom goes, as above, so below.
In the ancient world, it was an intuitive fact that vibration influences the warp and weave of the fabric of reality. Even with the widening scope of our burgeoning sciences, we recognize that electrical frequencies power our brains. We can’t help but find that certain vibrations grate, soothe, or fire us up. Neuroscience tells us that music entrains the hemispheres of brains and even synchronizes neighboring brainwaves. For ancients and moderns alike, music has the power to produce profoundly altered states of consciousness. Mystics could harness trance-inducing rhythms that accessed other realms to bring back knowledge beyond the limited bandwidth of our conscious minds.
SÖM SÂPTÂLAHN integrates these ancient tools with cutting-edge technology to produce a true mind-altering experience.
DISK ONE | SIDE A
Disk One’s first side draws listeners into three avant-meditations crafted to elicit an array of profound experiences. Each track, resonating with intention, uses rhythm and frequency to evoke hypnagogic states in which the listener is invited to join in the dance of shadow and light.
Chontaré
Et tu Domine suseptor meus et gloria mea et exaltans caput meum.
Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Grayson Fiske, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen
The first ray from the East in the season of Spring.
Mars rises, friendly as the unseen,
a drift of amber air and wild essence,
beneath petals trembling at the edge of dawn.
The seeker steps forward, charged and grounded,
The hammer held by no hand strikes and sparks.
Entangled - Unbinding
Dues virtutum converte nos; et ostende faciem uam, et salvi erimus
Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Collin Elliot, Grayson Fiske, Joseph Hatfield, Thomas Knight, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen
Under the gaze of distant stars,
the whisper of a once murderer unfolds the rhythm of siddhas.
Dancing through the darkened air,
a guide to those who see not with eyes.
Phenex
In prinipio creavit Dues caelum et terrum
Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Grayson Fiske, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen
Deep below the gaze of stars,
a hand unseen unbinds the broken,
releasing what holds form to the past.
In darkness, a new shape emerges,
forged by the quiet promise of becoming.
SIDE B
With each resonant tone, the journey into self deepens, moving from awareness to transformation. These meditative compositions evoke neuro-physiological alchemy. Tuned to resonate with the primal elements that compose us while conjuring archetypes from the collective depths of the psyche. The ground of consciousness dissolves in the aqua vitae of deep mind.
Dues Auditor Gemituum
Et anima turbataest valde; sed tu Domineusque quo?
Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, Evan Bowles, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Grayson Fiske, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen
In the quiet depths,
A wounded spirit waits.
Between shadows and breath, a tether holds firm,
The measured weight of galaxies.
How much longer before this fear yields?
Expanding Intelligence
Expectans expectavi Dominum et intendit mihi
Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Grayson Fiske, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen
Within a gentle strike the arc of song takes form.
It carries the rhythm of unbroken clouds.
As mind and spirit unspool
you… will… disappear.
Disk Two | Side A
PTOTHING / SOKTU-OBU
Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Collin Elliot, Brad Schumacher and Aaron Spriggs
PTOTHING is Thee itchy-O’s esoteric practice of entering into a mystical trance state, while SOKTU-OBU indicates the exploration of extra-physical realms during such states. Vibration in the form of sound, rhythm, and frequency becomes the vessel, guiding the voyager into the depths of the Exocosm. For the initiate, ptothing is a potent tool for dissolving the limitations of ordinary experience.
This track is based on traditional delvings into deep esoteric currents, and as such it can also serve as a system reset, or a re-alignment of energy centers. As the nervous system is bathed in sound, The Hanguessa–a simulated guide, and emissary from beyond the Brane between worlds–ushers you to elevated states through the protocols of SOKTU-OBU.
This practice invites the initiate to plunge into possibilities that lie outside of the confines of habitual awareness, deep into the universal nexus of mind where psyche and soma entwine. Guardians of Benevolence are invoked to encircle the journey, illuminate the unseen, and embrace the shadow within. Each breath is a portal, and every moment hums with the potential for transformation and emergence. Finally, on the other side, The Hanguessa re-unites the now-tuned astral body with the physical, bestowing gifts of resolve, resilience, and mettle.
Side B
Mumiah; At The Edge of Endings - The Final Echo
Convertere anima mea in requium tuam; quia Dominus benficit tibi
At The Edge of Endings - Tyler Aldridge, Ethan Alexander, Scott Banning, David Britton, Jesse Dawson, Grayson Fiske, James Nelson, Jacob Passini, Hanne Schrixx, Aaron Spriggs, and Kirsten Vermulen.
The Final Echo - Scott Banning, Jesse Dawson
A rending storm,
fractured cries of metal rattle a rift.
Smash the edges of form,
shatter the mirrors of known.
From entropy, deep, steady, the world.
The weight of resonance awakens what once slumbered.
Endings turn within themselves,
And the seed of all beginnings takes root.