third eye

There are many sides to life in a state of strong, intensified perception, where every information from outside is amplified and shown in vibrant colour. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I heavily lean on music and especially seek out long-winded, colorful tracks. This is the draw of bands such as Tool, Isis or Neurosis and the source of my occasional forays into trance.

My perception of music is tuned at a level of almost synesthetic sensitivity, especially when combined with the right mood, going far beyond simply hearing a melody, into a realm of wild imagination, where tiny little worlds are briefly born, given motion and portrayed in front of my mind's eye.

Visions can come forth from various tracks - twisting combinations of vibrant lights, landscapes, shapes both moving and static, folding into patterns that dance in my imagination. Filtered through a matrix of associations, interpretation and reflection, even more specific visions can distill themselves from the swarming images.

For some examples...

Isis - Hym.

A vision I can't exactly explain, only portray.

A rusted anchor hangs from the gallow, strangled by a chain wrapped around the mid-section, near the ring where it should normally be fixed. It slowly sways in the wind upon the small, cemented port near a gray sea reflecting the gray sky.

Isis - Wavering Radiant

Most of this album is a game of vibrant lights against darkness, occasionally with elements that I can imagine based on scraps of lyrics or titles. For instance, Hand of the Host rotates between five lights. Hall of the Dead features some kind of underground tomb with a crack in the ceiling to allow a sliver of sun. Threshold of Transformation involves a yellow-golden fire transforming a greater spiritual being, embodying it in a little child blessed with power (recently, I've related that to Leto II, the God-Emperor of Dune).

Cult of Luna has one song that carries an immense load of emotion - Dark City, Dead Man. It has a strong autumnal vibe and I always see myself wandering in the titular dark city, an urban maze of cold cement, punctuated with bright orange streetlights, littered with falling leaves and drenched in the rain.

Tool's songs, such as Third Eye or Lateralus, unfold into simpler patterns, the most obvious one being a spiral, full of psychedelic colors.

Neurosis... Stones from the Sky, Given to the Rising, both of those involve an immense whirlwind, though the former involves - unsurprisingly - stones from the sky. "Purify" brings a sense of immense, shaking force from the explosions of white, burning light. I Can See You gave me the vision of three stones, suspended in a starry void above an endless ocean that reflects only the sky, with rings spreading from beneath those stones. They are, of course, turning - and turning, and turning...

This all may sound suspiciously like insane trips and I only have my own word for it, but I haven't experimented with psychedelic drugs in amounts suitable to embark on trips like any of these. In fact, I'd rather avoid that - combining drugs with such a wild mind might be risky.

Unfortunately, any portrayals of those visions on paper with my meager drawing skills are quite lacking. I can't really render them in any other form than words and pencil/pen scribbles. It's quite a shame...