1. Invocation
Summoning the Gods with a D based bell tone, lots of overtones here. Shimmery synth pad comprised of D A D, root 5th root. The main keyboard (?) riff is D up to A, down to E, G, C, D, outlining D mixolydian. Not unlike this Harold Budd track from Avalon Sutra.
After a little while some fat awesome bells come in, implying harmony of F major to G major.
Violin chants and prays, sometimes playing a fun riff of A, Bb, D, E, F#, G…some kind of G melodic minor mode, creating a mystical feeling…as the purple smoke wisps round and round..spirits seeping out of their natural habitat to our human domain.
2. Back Country
Frittering G major riff in the background. Key is in G, resolves the D suspension from the previous Invocation. First track starts like a V7 chord, this track brings us to tonal gravity. So cool!
Pizzicato melody: B, E, D…higher B, E,D, higher A, G (sometimes adding E, D.). This outlines a fun Gmaj6 pentatonic voicing! This is also the main melody.
The Chorus, reminiscent of Phish's Limb by Limb, is Eb major, F major, G major.
Violin melody plays G…G, A, Bb, A.. F.. F, G, A, G…, and is harmonized in 3rds and 6ths, outline pretty much all the triads. Fun melody, chords act like bVI, bVII, to I major. Eb major and F major are taken from the G minor mode (hence the G minor melody), and resolves to G major. Good stuff!
3. Something From The Heart
|| Cmaj7 /E | Eb7 (#9#5) | Gmaj6/D | Eb9(#5) |
| Fmaj / Eb | C maj7 | back and forth between Fmaj / Eb and C maj7 ||
Guitar voicings:
E 7 7 0 10
B 5 7 5 6 10
G 5 6 4 4 10
D 5 5 5 5 10
A 7 6 5 6
E 11
4. For you
Bass going G to C back and forth, but feels chord progression feels like C major7 to F major 7/G.
|| C maj7 | F maj7/G | C maj7 | F maj7/G ||
Basically this. Background synth plays arpeggios off of the chords. Something like: B, G, E…B, G, E…C, A, F…C, A, F…
Then there’s a C-7 thing with a strong C pedal, might even play F-7/C.
Bridge revisits the cool jazz harmonies from the previous song.
5. Dawn in Varanasi
A bell tone. Big 7(11) chord, guitar approximation: x56630. Turns into E mixolydian drone. Violin melodizes like Indian raga, focusing on E, F#...and sometimes the riff E, D, C#, B. C# to D is significant.
6. Sometime Ago
Intro:
||A -9 | B-9 | Cmaj7 | D7sus |
| E-9 / C | G maj | C- | B-7 ||
At the second repeat, instead of B-7, do C-7 to F7 (II V) a few times. Then C- to D7, to E major resolve.
7. Automatic Writing
The title track, borrowing harmonies from the previous song:
||: A-9 | B-9 | A-9 | G-9 |
| A-9 | G-9 | C-9 | C-9 |
|B-9 | B-9 :||
On the second repeat, instead of B-9, jam between C-9 and F7, another II V.
This is the main form. Eventually the bossa nova evaporates and there’s a lot of whale song’s coming from the strings, focusing on notes G, D, and A. Repeating riff ascends endlessly, A, C, F, G…up and up octaves to the heavens.
8. Song of the Sea Bird
The harmonic timing is hard to tell on this, but the chords are mostly the same since the guitar uses the open B and E strings as a common building block in a lot of his chords. Some tasty voicings that work are:
E-9: 024000
G13: 3x3200
Fmaj7#11: 1x2200
A-9: x05500
Cmaj7: x32000
And briefly to E major: 0x6200 Big stretch A la Phil Keaggy!
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