CD in 4-panel digipak. Limited edition of 500 copies! A 16-track, 72-minute companion to The Cleft Serpent. Features instrumental versions of the 8-track album remixed & reworked to highlight Henrik Meierkord's cello and viola, exclusive instrumentals, three demos, and three alternate mixes with vocalist Jon DeRosa.
On this bonus collection of rich and complex chamber-music neo-classical compositions, listeners could be forgiven for thinking this is the work unto itself. Here we have an artist and a band at the peak of their powers reaching ambitiously into the starry night, seeking out the beauty and mystery of life, and arriving at the very heart of the human experience itself.
Freed of the narrative structure provided by The Cleft Serpent's lyrics and vocal performances, this (mostly) Instrumental Serpent allows the audience to better explore the rich, layered, and heartfelt compositions of the original work. The philosophical, metaphysical and psychological discourses of the album remain as echoes — shadow-like, forming a spectral force of soul-searching emotion and wonderment, held aloft by Meierkord's achingly beautiful string performances forming a complex and layered narrative of their own.
There is a generous amount of material presented here, reflecting the scale and ambition of The Cleft Serpent, drawing listeners deeper into the gothic, ambient and classical music inspirations across the decades-spanning legacy of Black Tape for a Blue Girl.
Released Early October 2021 by Projekt.
Track Listing:
01. The Cleft Serpent (inst.)
02. The Trickster (inst.)
03. Hidden Villa, Florence 1453 (inst.)
04. Ares & Hermes (inst.)
05. To Touch the Milky Way (2021 Version inst.)
06. So Tired of Our History (inst.)
07. The Matchmaker (inst.)
08. I'm the One Who Loses (inst.)
09. Alabaster, Stortorget 1520
10. The Ghost of Monte Cassino Abbey
11. The Cleft Serpent (Earliest inst. Demo)
12. Hidden Villa, Florence 1453 (Earliest inst. Demo)
13. I'm the One Who Loses (Earliest inst. Demo)
14. To Touch the Milky Way (2021 Version Alternate Vocal Mix)
15. The Matchmaker (Alternate Vocal Mix)
16. The Cleft Serpent (Alternate Vocal Mix)