Tracks six to ten of Nostalgia For Infinity make up the Redemption Ark suite. These tracks are all inspired by Reynolds’ Revelation Space novels.
In this universe, humanity has fractured into competing factions defined by their relationship with technology, but all threatened by the Inhibitors, ancient machines aiming to preserve life in the long run, by destroying civilisations that become too intelligent.
The suite begins with Glitterband, which follows the history of the decline of a ring of 10,000 diverse, semi-autonomous habitats following the spread of a nanotechnological plague.
lyrics
Glitterband
Glitterband to rust belt, when the plague came
Tore apart the orbital canopy.
Ten thousand ways to live,
Now all that glittered is just a stain,
All that remains of our sanctary.
Glitterband to rustbelt, we fight in the dirt
Always alert for the shadows hiding,
The knife in the back, we kill for scraps, hunted for sport, by the rich and the bored.
Glitterband to rust belt,
The majesty, the worlds of light suffocated.
The night sky darker than it’s been for centuries, at the interface smothered where the plague propagated.
Glitterband to rust belt, where we connected our minds we find our vulnerability.
We let the virus in, and let it depose
The cores and polls and roles of connected humanity.
Glitterband to rust belt, the Belle Époque has been and gone, Machines in our heads withdrawn.
Lost inside where we used to decide what was going on,
Protected by Panoply.
Glitterband to rust belt, my world shrinks,
Disconnected, unable to feel so I fear.
The minds around me, cannot find me.
I shrink the, the empathy radius.
Glitterband to rust belt,
The jewels in the sky die,
Plague spread Nothing we could do
To stop the advance.
The dance of the metal and flesh. Into each head creep
The tiny machines
Patiently infiltrate the interface
Between you and me,
The inorganic, changing, melding, rearranging,
Creeping death of our connected fantasy.
credits
from Nostalgia For Infinity,
released May 6, 2020
Written, performed and produced by Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland
Wonderful, beautiful, densely layered music. I'm glad I gave this album several headphone listens before commenting. It did not immediately strike a chord with me, but the more I listened the more I began to understand and appreciate how fantastically rich and deep the sound is. For fans of atmospheric and melodic prog, this is an excellent addition. Bass and drum work are exquisite! paliojen_black
Somehow these tracks hit the sweet spot of having emotional drive and payoffs without feeling like they're just 'highlights reels' stolen from earlier minimalist composers, or like academic exercises. The instrumentation/production is fantastic too and never sounds tinny or fake. In both the long tracks and the slow tracks themes and timbres evolve at just the right rate to be engaging but also to let you enjoy each stage of the overlapping lines. Excellent! Giles
The Long Island metal band's third album etches arena-sized hooks into their jagged compositions, deftly balancing experimental and poppy inclinations. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 12, 2022
Good modern prog albums are a rare beast in my eyes so this was a nice discovery. This album is very layered yet crisp sounding. Not exactly heavy but delightfully dense. Among other things the vocals are not someone's Dad doing their worst Roger Waters impression but are actually, quite good and give the music its own identity. I especially like the performance on Suli's rise. The songs flow really well and there's a lot of extremely ambitious playing. Also bonus points for church organ. impressivelad