Meaning:
Introduction to State of Mind.
This piece is derived from the first call I received on my answering
machine after going without a phone for six months. The phone company wouldn't
let me have a phone (even though I had one six months before) unless I
gave them the national identification number over the phone, or
appeared in person with an identification document which required the indentification
number. They said that otherwise they couldn't be sure who I was.
Of course it's obvious that (1) since I don't have to come in and show
identification documents unless I refuse to acknowledge the number; and
(2) since the numbers are readily obtainable; that I could really be almost
anybody over the phone. Knowing and speaking someone's indentification number
over the phone proves nothing. Their concept of identification is odd.
Why do they need the number or a picture card linked to the number
anyway? What's the real reason? Is the identification number required
to tell who you really are? The answer is that it depends on who you really
are. If you are a parent-less machine that was manufactured in a factory,
your serial number is proof of your existence. You just have to decide
whose side are you on anyway. Eventually, someone else (a friend)
got the phone for me.
The first message I received on this phone line was from a woman
who thought she had gotten her boyfriend's answering machine. She did
not even notice that the voice on the message was mine. She simply and
easily trusts that the number she has called forth is correct.
This track examines the interaction between intimacy and anonymity
in Western technological culture. With a phone, I can now be reached.
I am no longer as isolated as before.
Without a phone, no friends visit since they do not know when I will
be home. My neighbors are not known to me-- all my friends live across town
or in other cities. This contrasts with tribal cultures where a network
of friends lives nearby. Not having a phone is symbolic of hermitage
and spiritual isolationism. A required test of resolve for those who
wish to deny the beast, it strengthens.
A family member would never fail to recognize your voice. Although the
woman who calls "loves" her mate, she does not know what his voice sounds
like.
Feel:
Starting with an isolated yet integrated and broad mystical Eastern wailing,
it becomes frentic as ascending one-shot arpeggios burst forth and the
general funkiness of living in the artsy part of downtown -- in a apartment
overlooking the ocean, the downtown skyline and the airport -- breaks forth.
The general feeling is positive and whimsical.