Mathematics and music are directly related. Bringing a thought, even an emotion, is a matter that requires several calculations.
Usually, the calculations are in the lyrical measures to match the musical part of a song.
In Rock’n’Roll, each “conquest” creates the desire for the next one, especially if a musician or band has chosen Progressive paths.
Somehow, the term Math rock does not seem excessive and the existence of the Fibonacci sequence in the lyrics and music is a result of the harmonious coexistence of mathematics and melodies.
Tool’s compositions are not the definition of simplicity, as they have taken rock music one step further.
Lateralus
Their experiments continue in their third album “Lateralus” of 2001.
The homonymous song of the album, lasting 9.22 minutes, is for many the epitome of the relationship between mathematics and music.
The creation of Justin Chancellor, the band’s bassist, although the song is accredited to the whole band, created mathematical relationships through experimentation.
Apparently, a certain divine inspiration prompted his creation, given Pythagoras‘ saying that “mathematics is the language of the gods.”
The title of the song, as well as the album, is a pun.
It comes from the Vastus lateralis, a leg muscle, and implies lateral thinking.
A “theory” of Edwarda de Bono, which allows the human mind, through observation, to escape stereotypes, opening the horizon for new ideas.
Judging by the band’s compositions, it took place …
Correlations …
The song was originally called 9-8-7, due to the tempo in the chorus, which changes from 9/8 to 8/8 and ends 7/8.
And the mathematical gimmicks begin with the original title of the song when the three digits form the number 987, the 16th number of the Fibonacci sequence.
However, the creator did not stop at the tempo and times of the song but also used the famous sequence in the lyrics.
Black (1)
then (1)
white are (2)
all I see (3)
in my infancy (5)
red and yellow then came to be (8)
reaching out to me (5)
lets me see ‘(3)
Apparently, there is a normal course of the sequence, which is also declining.
The syllables of each verse correspond to the numbers.
The lyrical part has strong references to the tradition of the indigenous peoples of America.
The basic colors used by the Samanids in their didactic narratives, black, white, red, and yellow, also make a “parade” in the lyrics.
These colors are also the only ones painted by Australian Aborigines.
The verse “As below so above and beyond, I imagine” is taken from the Seven Aphorisms of Summum, but also refers to the Emerald Table of Hermetic teaching.
When Chancellor created the music, he imagined it as a central spiral.
Artist Alex Gray, who designed the album cover, saw something similar on a “trip” under the influence of LSD.
Essentially, the artist tried to highlight the spiritual state of humans…