Some years ago, I stumbled on an article in The New York Times about an
extraordinary art exhibit. The exhibition featured art from the Living
Museum, a center devoted to artistic production by patients at the
Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens, New York. I was taken by the
depth of imagination inherent in the works, which left a haunting and
indelible impression on me. During the summer of 2008, I heard an NPR
interview with psychiatrist and Living Museum curator, Janos Marton. I
was struck by a postulate Marton made in his interview, which opens The
Art of Madness: "I think that creativity, and artistic production, is
almost a symptom of mental illness." It is this provocative remark that
prompted the composition, The Art of
Madness.
The Art of Madness
is a 56-minute, continuous cycle of songs, each based on a different
manifestation of madness. The music tells the story of an ordinary man
who, without warning, experiences a psychotic Ecstasy. The protagonist sees in
the sky tears that turn to a light in which a vision of a new art and
music appears to him. His psychotic episodes prompt a course of
creative output in which the protagonist reproduces his flights of
madness in the form of art and music. The artist endures several
psychotic experiences that manifest as Panic, Fantasy, Dream, Delusion, Moon Mad, Despair, and Apparition. The artist then endures
a Breakdown and Sedation. Finally, in a moment of Revelation, the artist apprehends
that the burden of his madness is, in fact, a gift--the source of his
exquisite creativity and artistic output. Rather than suffer his
madness, the artist triumphantly embraces that which guides him through
his extraordinary and distorted vision of the world.
The Art of Madness
was composed and recorded in just three months during 2008. Almost all
of the music on the recording was improvised. In other words, while
recording, I would improvise the basic materials of the songs. I then
elaborated on the ideas adding bass, drums, and other instruments. I
added vocal tracks, often creating melodies and lyrics extemporaneously
as the recording rolled. The Psychedelic Ensemble, therefore, is a
one-man band. Although the compositional process is essentially
improvisational, the work was carefully conceived. One finds, for
example, recurring motives, themes, and harmonic ideas that unify the
individual pieces. The work, therefore, is cyclic in design.
After completing the composition, I worked carefully with Janos Marton
and Alexandra Serban. Together we carefully selected images produced by
artists at the Living Museum that best represent the sensibility of
each song. The order in which the images are presented in this booklet
seems to directly parallel the story that is The Art of Madness.
I am indebted to Janos Marton for his cooperation and support of my
request to incorporate images from the Living Museum with The Art of
Madness. Also, I am grateful to Alexandra Serban who patiently assisted
me in the selection of the artwork. Finally, I thank the artists at the
Living Museum for granting permission to include their exquisite art
with this CD.
Use the widget to
hear individual songs or click here
for songs, lyrics, and artwork.
All music and lyrics composed and
performed
by The Psychedelic Ensemble The Art of Madness Copyright
2009, The Psychedelic Ensemble. All
Rights Reserved.
Licenced by ASCAP
Spoken excerpts
in Prologue and Delusion from The Infinite
Mind public radio series, "Schizophrenia: Second
Choices," Lichtenstein Creative Media, 2004 used with permission
". . . This is an
impressive debut loaded with melody and just plain good songs. If you
like 70s prog, in the vein of bands like Pink Floyd, you will probably
want this in your collection. You should also be on the lookout for the
band's upcoming release, The Myth of Dying. I know I will. "
".
. . if this debut album is an indicator of what's in store later
on, fans of sophisticated art rock have quite a lot to look forward to
. . . . Those who love concept albums, find pleasure in songs lasting
for an hour and have a soft spot for late 70's Pink Floyd should make
up the perfect audience for this album . . . this is a good quality
production through and through, and a very promising first CD from this
US artist.
". . . I quickly
became totally fascinated and
completely overwhelmed with the enormous amount of feel and great depth
of artistic expression . . . This album is
much more than just music, it is a totally brilliant work of
creative arts, that will blow your mind . . . "
