What most people may or may not want to understand is the fact that freedom is neither nonsense nor something that is self-evident.
Basically getting it requires a lot of work whether internal or external.
It is not recommended for lazy and cowardly people, nor for greedy and malicious.
Freedom is the hard way of life, which few can follow, and even fewer want.
It is a plea and seeks together, of our own Socratic demon, who is the only one who can break our bonds.
The chains we often ‘sculpt‘ ourselves.
The “art of simplicity” is quite complex in its learning and hence in its acquisition.
Art of simplicity has found a ‘plea’ to find their freedom or perhaps a purification.
“Invocation” is included in “The Chains that Bind Us“, the third album of the band expected at the beginning of 2020.”
As Matthews (violin) mentions, founding member of the experimental/progressive metal band from Athens.
“It is the conceptual center of the whole story, a catharsis”, he goes on.
“The majority of the songs were composed or perfected in the summer of 2017 when the goal for the next album and the theme we wanted to deal with became much clearer.
In all the songs, and even more so in Invocation, we became more atmospheric with a more intense post-rock and gothic element.” he talks about the technical parts of the song.
“The progressive side of our music is now evident almost exclusively in composition and orchestration, you would say that we have turned to an even more cerebral direction since we never moved by very technical instrumentation without substance”, he concludes about the composition of the song’s music.
“The original thought was that the word “invocation”, although usually associated with a supernatural meaning, it means in fact a call for help from a higher power.
Perhaps as we have mentioned being a search for the “Socratic demon”, none other than our own soul.
“But a “higher power” is not necessarily supernatural, so it is an invocation to freedom as the, which except its purely political meaning, it can mean a lot of different things for every person.”
Freedom or its search is a lonely road.
To go back to the musical parts of the song Mattheos says…
“Due to the mystical gravity of the word “invocation,” the song begins with a recurring chord progression on the violin and keyboards as well as the basic theme on the bass, but in fact, there is a large icon, and the voice is moving with small steps.
The goal was a song that will mesmerize and lead to ecstasy.“
“As the track progresses, it reaches a climax and changes mood but while seemingly things change, in essence, they remain the same but it changes superficially, symbolizing the staticness of the political landscape over the centuries even if some things seem to be different.“
And as he continues the narrative, essentially “crossing” the track mentally, like a search journey.
Not just the self, but the search for the deeper ‘I’ of the whole humanity.
It makes no sense for a tree to sprout unless it comes to the surface in search of the sun and therefore the light itself.
“Only in the last climax of the song in the end, as we move to the last chapter of the story, there is a substantial change that recognizes the “past” but has been unlocked from it and it can freely be structured differently.”
“For these reasons, the harmony of the piece as a whole seems at first to be simple, and the lyrics are repetitive.
I composed the base of the song and wrote the lyrics while Nikos (Moiras, drums) helped finish it.
The truth is that I do not remember much of what I was thinking except that I had all these ideas I described and then I started seeing how they can be combined together.
From that point on, we worked kinda like the previous album, “When Fables have a Bitter Taste” (2016), that is the others added their personal elements to the basic structure.”, Mattheos goes on narrating.
“Dimitris (Koskinas, guitar) and Giorgos (Pagidas, bass) gave the necessary dynamism and gravity to the rhythm section, while Christos (Kounelis, voice) made a heartbreaking interpretation that made the song stand out.
I should also emphasize about Yiannis Fasoulakis’ contribution, who once again undertook mixing and mastering, and helped to make all these elements come out in the best possible way, as well as George Siderofski who played the keyboards.”
Besides, the composition is all about teamwork.
As for the lyrics:
“Elusive bird
We’ll study your ways
Imitate your moves
Never utterly comprehend you
Drawing closer, you widen your wings
Wander away, but you’re always there
And a plea to you
Guide us away
Unveil utopia”
The musician mentions: “I compared freedom with an elusive bird which, as humans, we want to study and understand it, but we can never do it in its entirety.
Because the more freedom you have, the more stages of freedom are revealed, which you couldn’t imagine they existed.”
Even though freedom is never enough, it is actually the very power of evolution that drives us to discover new boundaries and break them again and again.
“But as far as we stray, we always want one way or the other to be free. So this invocation is made so that we learn from freedom how to be able to break the chains that bind us.”
Just like a seed that always wants to break the shell that holds it captive but safe. And then look for the sun, away from the safety of the soil.
Always at risk of getting cold on the surface and many more threats.
“It is important to emphasize that the “elusive bird” itself is not being asked to break our chains, because there are no magical solutions, let alone in a situation we have created.
It is also the only time we hear the title of the album in the lyrics, but it is re-interpreted as a desire instead of a given situation like the oppressed overcame the oppressor.
Of course, the lyrics as a whole in the album are written in such a way that everyone gives their own meanings within a more general theme.”
Everything is a matter of interpretation, even simple and seemingly objective facts can be interpreted in many ways.
The poetry itself speaks to the soul of each one separately. So by reading it everyone sees themselves in it.
The band’s violinist concludes: “Freedom can be replaced with the euphoria for everything that makes you happy, or the love for someone since all of those things liberate you from the torturous chains that are the normality of everyday life.
We believe that it is the song from the album that will make more impression so it will be the first single and video and will be released this October.”
The video clip is directed by George Chra, who also took over the artwork of the previous album, while the cover was done by Dimitris Skrimizeas.
A song must take us on a journey through its lyrics and sounds. A journey to unknown places, and most of all to our own souls.