MP3 MacLeod 9 - the Closing of the 4th Cycle

Revelation rock for eco armageddon - rock/spoken word thematic album reminiscent of the Door's American Prayer and Robbie Robertson's Contact from the Underworld of Redboy

9 MP3 Songs
ROCK: 70's Rock, SPOKEN WORD: With Music



Details:
THE CLOSING OF THE 4th CYCLE â Revelation Rock â Eco Armageddon

Some of my favorite albums have been thematic concept albums so while considering doing Closing of the 4th cycle for inspiration I listened to Marvin Gayeâs Whatâs going on, An American Prayer by The Doors, Robbie Robertsonâ s Contact From The Underworld of Redboy and The Past didnât go anywhere by Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco.

As an artist I have enjoyed the process of exploring a given theme by reading up on the history of the particular subject and then translating all that information into a series of works. As a painter, photographer and filmmaker this has been my process and therefore on this music/spoken word project I decided to apply the same process. Trying to break with convention I did not want to approach it like other albums so I wrote a series of spoken word pieces and songs and then collaged them together, I then illustrated each song and put them into an illustrated songbook. I also have begun to collaborate with a series of filmmakers to create some short films to animated the songs for a multimedia performance.

I must give a special thank you to Andrew Middleton at Feeder Studio for giving me the opportunity to work and record with him on all his great vintage analogue gear on Vancouver East Side. Also to all the great musicians I worked with Jeff Brancato, Murray Atkinson, Karl Willems, Shannon Saunders and Kat Brown you all brought unique and essential lyrical skills and creativity to the project. Finally Jamie Hebert for finding the time and space in his single father life to make sense of the work from the computer desk and headphones.

The inspiration for the Closing of the 4th cycle initially came from several books, Frank Waterâs The Hopi, Thomas Emailâs The Hopi Survival Kit, There is a River (the story of Eagar Cayce) by Thomas Surgue, the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh,and finally many of Joseph Campbellâs works on mythology.

But I must also credit another experiential source. I began this album after being invited to a Plainâs Cree sweat lodge, which is a traditional healing and or cleansing ceremony practiced by these First Nations people. I felt that the experience was a great privilege and necessary point of departure to write such an album which is a commentary on the state of the planet and our human condition. After that experience I felt compelled by a calm joy and musical outrage to write about what I saw in the sweat lodge and around me on a day to day basis, perhaps like Marvin Gaye I was asking âWhatâs going on?â quite literally. I feel this point in history begs the question, âare we really doing the best we can with the planet and as a human race?â I fully understand that democracy is young pupil and a work in progress yet I believe that a shift is needed, and often it is the artists, shamans, great humanists and activists that set things in motion. I am honoured and humbled to be a small part of this shift in thinking and awareness. I credit all of the great teachers and positive influences I had around me that enabled me to get this far.

So this has been a fantastic enquiry and enlightening journey that I wish to share with you the reader and listener. It is with joy and hope that I as vessel give you this work, encouraging all to explore the great mysteries of the Spiritual Ark and celebrate life as it is joy and light that will help put all back into balance before the earth changes bring us into darkness.

Please go to www.climatecrisis.net and check out Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth.


G. Scott MacLeod
Montreal, Canada
April 2006


The Hopi Prophecy

The title Closing of the 4th cycle comes from the Hopi, it is believed that they are the keepers of prophecy and they have ancient wisdom in their tablets (Tiponi) which prophesize the end of this world (presently the 4th cycle) and a vision of the next world we are soon to enter (the 5th cycle). According to them the earth has been whipped clean 3 times already. First by fire, next by ice, most recently by the flood... approximately 11,000-12,000 years ago. Some believe that the actual date of the flood occured on June 5, 8498 BC. According to the Hopis we are about to enter "The Fifth Age", which they call "The World of Illumination".

According to Hopi belief, the survivors of the Great Deluge (similarly to the Epic of Gilgamesh) thousands of years ago split up into four groups that moved north, south, east and west. Only one group completed their journey -- to the North Pole and back -- under the guidance of a brilliant "star" in which the Great Spirit Maasau traveled. When he landed, he drew a petroglyph on Second Mesa, showing a maiden (with the traditional "butterfly" hair arrangement) riding in a wingless, dome-shaped craft. The petroglyph signified the coming Day of Purification when the true Hopi will fly to other planets in "ships without wings."