AIR: FULL SPECTRUM SOUND
“What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.”
Humans can live 40 days without food and three days without water, but only eight minutes without air. Truly, this invisible and ubiquitous substance is one of the most essential factors of our existence.
The instruments used to create the music on Air are tuned to frequencies based on the vibratory rate of the oxygen atom, an essential element of the Earth’s atmosphere. Thus, this music vibrates in concert with the very air we breathe.
Oxygen, represented by the symbol O, is the third most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen and helium), and the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. Like some other elements, oxygen has the ability to exist in two or more different forms, known as allotropes. An allotrope is a molecule made up of multiple atoms of a single element. Allotropes exhibit wildly different properties depending on the number of atoms in each molecule. For example, ozone, a three-atom allotrope of oxygen, is an essential compound that helps protect our biosphere from deadly ultraviolet radiation emanating from the sun.
Solitary oxygen molecules, however, do not have this protective quality. This scientific concept of allotropy provided a valuable metaphor to the process of recording Air. Simple changes in the way oxygen atoms come together seem to create an entirely new substance, while the element’s essential nature actually remains unchanged. And while the same frequencies are used throughout this record, the varying structures of each track evoke the different qualities of air: vitality, purity, clarity, stimulation, and quietude.
As you listen to these recordings, I hope you feel the inclination to breathe deeply. Just as oxygen brings vitality to your lungs, may the sound of these recordings bring new vitality and hope to your life.
—ALEX THEORY SAN FRANCISCO, 2009