This piece began as a generative music experiment, where software was used to trigger musical samples and phrases at random times, ad infinitum, based on an Ionian scale. Rather than use abstract electronic sounds, organic familiar instruments were used.

When 6-year old Ana Luna Hogios entered the studio, she asked if her father could play with her. Upon his gentle refusal, she said 'why is everyone so busy?'. Suddenly, the song went from an instrumental to a spoken word piece.. Basil jotted down a few notes with Ana following that theme, of children being ignored or neglected.  What ended up in the first half of the song, is Ana performing those lines in one take. 

At that point in time, it was  becoming evident that the decisions of governments and authorities, to take children out of school, isolating them and masking them was having disastrous ramifications on their's understanding and experience of the world, let alone their health and growth (Guardian article).  The second half of Generation One was composed as musical 'explosion' of energy, anger, passion, and euphoria all at once.. young children too young to understand what happened. Perhaps they will know the injustice when they are older.

Ana Luna and her young brother Lukas were recorded shouting HEY and YO! (Czech for 'yes'), A kind of call to other children and a confrontation to adults. To create a thunderous rock foundation, 3 powerful players from different countries were enlisted to play drums, bass and guitar. Synths and samples were added, echoing the original melodies and instruments from the original generative music experiment

This song was originally inspired by a track on a vintage Polish folk music record. The song 'Szyski' translates to pinecones. This haunting traditional song features Polish lyrics about young love amidst the toil and poverty.

Behind the barn in the field of stones / And there in the beech forest / On the ashes of the chimney / give me peace of mind John / Because I am a poor girl / And when you go to work/to plough the fields / Call me, and I will help you / And when we plough / we will get married, and  we will be healed. 

Basil sampled a string phrase from the introduction, and a choral phrase from the end (3:16). Inspired by minor modality and the line we will get married, and  we will be healed, he composed an instrumental sketch with piano, synth & electronic drums, traditional hand drum sample.  It was time to send it to a collaborator to respond to.

Basil sent the sketch to singer Sonia Konstantinidou (Greece), inviting her to re-imagine new lyrics in Greek (Basil's native language), and compose and sing new melody. Sonia delivered a striking interpretation, capturing the yearning feeling of young innocent love in a troubled existence.

Τη μέρα το χώμα καλλιεργώ /Ψάχνω τη δύναμη να βρω /Τη νύχτα να έρθω να σε δω Κι έχω τόσα να σου πω /Στον αχυρώνα 'κεί στα δένδρα της οξιάς /Δως μου γαλήνη κι έλα /τη μοίρα σου να βρεις /Είναι ώρα να λυτρωθείς /Τώρα πίσω στη δουλειά /Χώμα ιδρώτας κι εργατιά /Μα ο νους μου φεύγει μακριά /Σ'αγναντεύει από ψηλά /Μόνο εσύ κι εγώ /Όνειρο αληθινό Δίνω όρκο παντοτινό /Πάντα να σε αγαπώ /Κι όσο οργώνεις, κάλεσε με και θα 'ρθω /Κι αφού τελειώσεις θα /ενωθούμε με αιώνιο δεσμό /Μόνο εσένα επιθυμώ

During the day I nurture the soil /I'm searching for the strength To come to meet you tonight / And I have so many things to tell you /In the barn, there by the beech trees /Come to me and give me peace/ to find your fate /It's time to be freed /Now we return to work /Soil, sweat and toil /But my mind travels far away /It is gazing at you from high above /Only you and me /A true dream I take an eternal oath /To always love you /And while you're turning the soil /invite me and I'll come /And after you're done we'll form an eternal bond /I desire only you

Ido Romano (Israel) was invited again after his beautiful work on Safe House, this time to record improvised melodies on the oud. The beginning of the track evokes the taqsim, a melodic musical improvisation that precedes the performance of a traditional Arabic, Kurdish, Greek, Middle Eastern, Azerbaijani or Turkish musical composition.

Tiny Suns was originally a poem by Basil Hogios. It just needed a brilliant voice to read it. Basil met actor Toby Harper (UK) on the set of a film in Barcelona 2015, and was immediately struck by his speaking voice. He immediately came to mind to record a reading of the poem. Toby brought out the complex details and nuance in the text with an arresting and hypnotic performance. 

At this point, there was no music. At the end of 2021, Basil met Frederic Dumesle on a professional project in Luxembourg. Frederic was creating music with purely analog synthesizer gear (Moog, Modular synths, sequencers, with no computers).  How would a musician creating with these instruments respond to a reading of a poem?  The experiment was to find out how these seemingly disparate elements could co-exist.