Album Notes

Broken Saints is a 'serial online graphic literature event' (read: online comic) which has captured the imagination of tens of thousands of fans - and dozens of major Internet awards - worldwide since its inception four years ago. Written and directed by Brooke Burgess, illustrated by Andrew West and designed and programmed by Ian Kirby, it tells the dark, unsettling but ultimately compelling story of four characters 'from the quiet corners of the globe' who are brought together by shared experiences, dark visions and hardships to face a terrifying threat.

'A Suite Hereafter' is the second volume of the Broken Saints Soundtrack series. Like 'Passage' before it, 'Hereafter' existed before the series began, and was inspirational in its original development as well as in setting the atmosphere for much of the early series. Again, several tracks are of key importance to the series or to individual characters: 'Zelem', 'Jabarsa' and 'Kenoma' (Shandala), 'Qaf' (Oran and other military scenes), 'Shekhinah' (used for many disorienting or vision segments), and 'Jabalqa' (featured in the epilogue). This new version of the album features remixes of 'Zelem' not on the original pressing, but featured in the series.

The music on 'A Suite Hereafter' was originally conceived as the soundtrack for Opaque, a dance poetry solo by Lori Hamar, produced by Suddenly Dance Theatre, Victoria. It has been substantially re-worked to express my current fascination with historical, spiritual and literary notions of resurrection. The titles are drawn from the Sufi, Kabbalah and Christian Gnostic traditions, and refer to various stages in the journey towards resurrection in this life - the idea being that true resurrection is simply our world, re-imagined...

'A Suite Hereafter' features piano, french horn, operatic vocal and drums prominently, with flute, Hammond organ, synthesizer, electric bass, Jaymar toy piano and zarb (Persian hand drum) playing secondary roles. it was recorded and mixed entirely on computer at Bigger Boots Audio in Victoria, B.C., Canada. Stylistically, it ranges from minimalist, trance-inducing polyrhythmic patterns (think Michael Nymans or Philip Glass) to rather intense, twisted and distorted tone poetry, to spacious, resonant vistas that summon a strange, magical calm.