Universal Cycle

Universal Cycle:
Listen & buy this album

Released October 1st 2014

Recorded in IsItArt Studio, Sweden, by Peder Kjellsby & Sjur Miljeteig, and in Propeller Music Division, Oslo, Norway, by Morgan Nicolaysen.
Mixed by Morgan Nicolaysen at Propeller Music Division. Mastered by Chris Sansom at Propeller Music Division.

All tracks written by Jonas H. Sjøvaag, except track 2, 5 & 6 written by Andreas Ulvo.
Produced by Jonas H. Sjøvaag, Sigurd Hole & Andreas Ulvo. Cover photo (Untitled #21 / Red Mirage), booklet photos & cover design by Jonas H. Sjøvaag.

Liner Notes:
You start in the barren desert, and then you walk through the woods. Entering a small forest island in which there are no trees, only open space surrounding the watering hole where all animals come to drink. Then you pass that gleaming, in that particular forest, abandoning the direct sunlight, seeking refuge in the shades beneath a dense layer of vegetation.

In there it’s cooler, and when you look up you can sometimes see how the sun and the blue sky peeks through the greens. Birds are audible, you can hear how they sing, how they eat and how they die. Some are caught by predators in a swift and sudden carnivorous action, others are falling motionless to the ground. The latter provides energy for a different chain; one that attacks much slower but one that is much more thorough.

After the forest comes the mountain. A steep climb, one that has not been climbed before, and it rises in front of you; rocks, dirt and compost piled up and built over a million years, but you shall conquer it, starting by lifting your body on the strength of your lower extremities. It’s humanity and evolution that lifts your body over that first rock. You are part of a community, and this is how we are made.

Then you reach the top, and the sweat is dripping down your forehead, it trickles into your eyes and makes you blink. From there you see nothing, and you see everything. The sky is blue, and the sun is warm on your skin. You’re a conqueror, and you see what you have been granted through your effort. Descending from the mountain you see water from the great Ocean flowing with enormous force, grinding away the stones in its path. When you first set foot in it you feel an enormous joy that stems from how you know that you belong in all of your surroundings.

This, in essence, tells The Observer that human emotion always relies on a connection between the body and the mind. Such is our collective nature, and we are all susceptible to modes of input.

´Universal Cycle´ was made in a time where it felt natural to embrace extroversion as a mode of output. It may not become the norm.