So here is the next installment of my Mars saga. The protagonists have reached Mars and have now been there a while. And one of them is about to set out on one the big mission, to travel to an aquafer (underground resorvior of water) and dig down to take samples searching for signs of life. Water being one of the primary building blocks and enablers for life, it is believed that if we are to find any on Mars, it will be underground in one of these aquafers. As can be judged from the title, it doesn't go so well, so a rescue needs to be mounted.

---

Part 1 - intro

As time passes on the ground
The mission calls
And she said..

"It is time to head out
It is time to explore 
There are things out there that I am destined to find,
So I'm packing my bags...
Cause I'm heading out there tomorrow,
Where mystery and wonder awaits"

So now tracks lead away
Leaving dust in the air
Tracing the path that she took as the rover drove away...

Part 2 - exploration 

This mission, destined from the start 
To scour this planet for signs of bacterial life 
Even though the surface is dry
And the regolith is cold as ice
We still want to try
and we still might find answers yet 

Water might be flowing underground 
The ultimate catalyst for abiogenesis
So she's heading out to this Aquafer
And to find what we're looking for she'll have to 
Dig deep, where conditions are right
Deep down where the seeds of creation might be found

Part 3 - Failure

There's a mayday coming in..
Her rover's been caught in the blastwave and
She's not doing so good..
And I don't think that she'll be coming home again

So now, she is out there alone, as her systems fail
Yeah now, she is out there alone, as nighttime comes

Part 4 - Night of Anguish [instrumental]

Part 5 - Morning

The night has passed, and there's still no signs of life
And this static noise is all this radio has for me
And I want to keep up hope, but the thread is wearing thin..
Cause Leslie, have you gone and met your end?
Yeah, Leslie have you gone and met your end?

Part 6 - Resuce

But explorers we are
And despair is not for us to give into
so I am packing my bags
Cause I'm heading out there this morning
Where i hope that Leslie still awaits

I may be breaking every rule
We're not supposed to both be in danger
But I cannot just sit still
I need to do whatever I can
So I'm coming to find you
And I hope that you will still be alive..

Through these fields of impact remains
Through these valleys of blackened stone, I've been..
Riding hard for most of the day
And as the sun sets on the distant horizon
I find what I've been seeking
I find what I've been looking for

A torn up hulk
Smashed to bits..
But there's still hope
Cause there are still
signs of life inside

So I pull out my torch
And tear into the hull
Cleared away, I see her lying inside
She barely breathes
But her suit is intact
So I pull her out and bring her back home
To the base where she can heal...

Part 7 - Ending

Where she'll be fine
so we can still go on
Yeah, we're still on

The Greatest Adventure
We sailed the Void
Then onto these unwalked dunes
Of our celestial brother
That light that colored the night
Where we went to explore
Where we went to learn about
The keys to our home and the Answer to if we're alone...

The Quest it Carries On...

Lost

In this song, I wanted to ask the question, "We've reached Mars and established a base there, what now?". Perhaps more than a little bit inspired by how we, back here on Earth, tend to let the short term commercial benefits win over long term benefits of preservation and conservation.

This is the final song in my Mars saga, so with this, the journey is complete. I'll be doing some touching up on the first songs, and eventually put them out properly as an album, so stay tuned!

Lyrics:

Staring out at this untouched land
Imagine what may come here
So take my hand
As we venture forth
The first of many more
That will be coming here
To share this world
But to what end
Will they come for knowledge or for gain...
So take my hand
And join my prayer
That we will make the right choices now...

Standing at the crossroads
With our eyes towards the future
And I wonder how it will be
In the end

Will they come and mine him dry?
Strip him bare just like they always do
Yeay, will they come to soil his lands?
Take away from him, all that he is
Or will they come to hear his words?
To listen to the stories he can tell
So take my hand
And join my prayer
That we will make the right choices now...

Standing at the crossroads ...

Onwards

Herein can be heard the first two songs of my latest album, The Greatest Adventure. First "Liftoff", and then, the title track for the album, "The Greatest Adventure".

The Greatest Adventure is a concept album, set in the not so distance future, about the first manned mission to Mars. The songs takes the listener on a journey from liftoff on earth, through the void of space, to a touchdown on Mars and exploration of the planet. Melodies, riffs and soundscapes also tells what the planet has to offer; and what physical and mental perils the travellers must experience in getting there.

The demos of the songs have been slowly released over the last few years, and now the songs are touched up and completed and the album is available in full. 

https://gunnarsletta.bandcamp.com/album/the-greatest-adventure

The Greatest Adventure (2022)

The name eerie lullaby has been me for quite a while. It first arose when I was had tweaked my Novation Nova synth into a musical box like sound and was playing some notes which reminded me of a lullaby, but with a touch of unease. I termed the patch "Eerie Lullaby" when I saved it and that was that.

When I was working with Thousand Cuts, it kinda clicked that I wanted to use the name Eerie Lullaby as a metaphor for self deception. A lullaby is a song we sing to our children to calm them and convince them that everything is ok so they can sleep peacefully. However, when we all sing along to the same tune and tell ourselves that nothing is wrong, that is an all together different lullaby... 

The original musical box theme I played on the Nova which coined the name, is the piano arpeggio you can hear on the first verse.

Recording and drum programming is done using Reaper. Guitars, Bass, Keys, orchestration, vocals and backing vocals are performed by myself.

Lyrics:

Can you hear the anthem of the lullaby?
Soothing words to hide from us the truth
A truth so easy to ignore
A burden to set aside for those who'll follow 
For future generations to come..
If they will get a chance.. If Mother will still sustain them..

It's time to end the anthem of the lullaby
Face the facts and do what must be done
A choice for you and me.
So we can live and see
The future generations to come..
So they will have a chance. So Mother will still sustain them! 

I should say we are sorry, but words do not make up for the wounds so deep.
Not when we are still pushing you into your endless sleep.

Thousand Cuts

Eerie Lullaby

Following a successful liftoff (https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/liftoff), our astronauts are on they way towards their destination. The story continues in https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/sol

---
Lyrics:

Years of training behind us, but now we are finally here
On a journey to that desolate world, so far away...
There once was a little child, that dreamed of space
And now that child has grown, to lead this chase 
We've practiced so hard for this, but the journey will be harder yet...
Our tech and bodies might hold, but our minds may still..
Falter.. 

Everyone remembered where they were, in '69
When the human race put its feet on another world.
Maybe this will inspire the young
To open their minds and discover the unknown
Perhaps a time for dreams is what lies ahead of us
A time with hopes fulfilled and challenges solved..

Cause its ...
The greatest adventure
A year through the void
Then onto the unwalked dunes
of our celestial brother 
that light that colored the night
We go to explore 
Where we go to learn about
the keys to our home 
and the answers to if we're alone

Just imagine what we may find
In that barren landscape, locked in time.
A snapshot of our mother, of our earth, in the precambrian age 

Yes, the things that we may find
In Valles Marineris
In Tharsis Montes
In subsurface reservoirs of water
And in Polar caps of ice

Then there is that greatest mystery, of them all
The one about the uniquness of life..
Now, we don't know what we may, or may not find
Or how ever long that quest may take
But this we know without the shadow of doubt
That if we do, it changes everything!

We are on..  
The greatest adventure
A year through the void
Then onto the unwalked dunes
of our celestial brother 
that light that colored the night
We go to explore 
Where we go to learn about
the keys to our home 
and the answers to if we're alone

The Greatest Adventure

Our protagonists are on their way towards the red planet (https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/thegreatestadventure) and take a moment on their year-long journey to look out the observation dome at the glowing sphere at the center of the solar system, our Sun. Although a shining beacon in the blackness of space, this furnace of all life is not only a quiet light. Following a coronal mass ejection, the travelers are bathed in harsh radiation..

The journey to the red planet, the isolation and stress, is taking its toll on the mental health of one of our protagonists...

-

Lyrics:

Seven months and seven days, 
We're flying through the emptiness of open space.
My back it hurts, and I strain to see,
and I worry that this fragile form is failing me...

There's no time to rest, no rest to sleep,
and my spirit is sinking deep...
Our view of home, that faintest light,
and no one has ever been as far away before..

All of those I've left behind, 
the faces I might never see again.
There's no shoulder for the tired soul,
and no one to pull us back from the edge...

From the edge!

How this will end I cannot tell, 
cause solace it escapes me, in this confining shell..
And its just the two of us out here,
so who are all these voices whispering in my ear!

And in my head!

Get out of my head!
Get out of my head!

Warning lights are blinking red
And Leslie's only shaking her head at me
No sympathy in her eyes..
For all the things that I must do to keep us breathing 

Away from the noises
Escaping the voices 
Screaming at me 
The walls closing in on me
I have no place to breathe 

So major Joe, its come to this.
You're lost inside your head where everything's amiss.
And even though you trained and tried
You've come up short and now you've gone beyond the edge...

Get your act together 
This is not the time to curl up the floor and hide from the demons.
Now is not the time to cower in the corner.
Now is not the time for me to go insane!

Beyond The Edge

The solitude of the journey nearly brought our protagonist to the brink of insanity (https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/beyond-the-edge), but he finds peace of mind thinking of his home..

- 

Lyrics:

Deep in this mental maze, 
I'm trying to carve my way
out to a brighter state.
I need a new place to hold on to

I've been lost and too selfish to see
that no one's to blame but me.
I need to fight that feeling inside.
I need a new place to hold on to.

So I delve deep into my past,
through times that I have lived.
And it dawns on me..
I find what I need to hold on to.

Back to the place where I grew up,
to the place where I learned 
who I'm supposed to be..
The anchor that I can hold on to

A place where encouragement stayed
Rather than taking my chances away
A place to prosper and grow
In the sanctuary of my home...
x2

Though we are far away,
the memories are clear in my mind 
And it stands to me as 
A beacon that I can hold on to

I've been lost in this mental maze,
But now I have found my way out 
To a brighter state..
I've found what I need to hold on 

A place where encouragement stayed
Rather than taking my chances away
A place to prosper and grow
In the sanctuary of my home...
x2

-

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Home

Another chapter in my Mars story. The protagonists have landed on mars and reach their martian habitat.

I wanted to touch a few different points in this song.. 

Firstly, after months in zero gravity, the astronauts suffer from muscle and bone atrophy, making them weak. 

Secondly, while watching NASA's Insight landing, I was fascinated with the engineers which were anxiously watching their monitors for progress on the mission, with the knowledge that the landing was already over. Speed-of-light latency meant they just didn't know the result yet as communications take between 6 to 40 minutes depending on the relative position of Earth and Mars. So all they could do was watch and hope everything went ok.

Thirdly, a habitat would have to be sent, assembled and verified before a manned mission could be performed. A pressurized area of breathable atmosphere, with radiation shielding to protect from cosmic rays. 

Previously in this story:
https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/liftoff
https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/thegreatestadventure
https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/sol
https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/beyond-the-edge
https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/home

Lyrics:

Feeling the pull from below
We try to rise, on our withered bones.. But..
No strength remains.. yet
we push on forward into the gate
We reach out and open the door
and stare out into the wasteland

Making our way across the scarlet dunes
Through sand and stone in this unfamiliar hue
And up ahead
We see the place where we are gonna stay

With the journey now behind us we are here, on this world.
And hand in hand we walk across the land
to our home..

Hunched over their mission screens, but they won't know our fate, for a while
Staring through their drying eyes as they watch the counter ticking down..
But soon, they'll know 
That humankind is walking on Mars!

A burrow in the ground
A shield of stone,
to shelter us from rays from high above
A pocket of the earthlike
with air to surround us
so we can catch our breath
Where we can breathe 

Sent up in seasons passed 
Built by machines so we could 
Move right in 
Now that we
Are here 

With the journey now behind us we are here, on this world.
And hand in hand we walk across the land
to our home..

First Landing

This short instrumental track depicts decent from the quiet of space onto the surface of Mars. It is a bumpy ride down.. Despite its lower atmospheric density, aerobreaking will yield lots of turbulence and heat shields will be burning. The track then ends with a majestic touchdown, reusing the main theme from https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/liftoff.

Chronologically speaking, it sits after https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/home and before https://soundcloud.com/gunnarsletta/first-landing

Touchdown

Growing plants on Mars is no laughing matter.. While the ground contains the required chemicals, it lacks a lot of the more complex biochemistry that soil here on Earth has. So one first needs to seed the ground with something to fertilize it, (not unlike the poo used by Matt Damon in the Martian). In addition, the lack of a magnetosphere means radiation will kill most things on the surface, so to get vegetation started, the best place to start is under ground, for instance, in a cave.

Sprouts in Regolith depicts the first seeds of life, struggling deep in a cave, under artificial lighting in the fertilized soil. It starts slowly, but life, once taken root, is relentless. It will grow and rise, majestically, towards the light.

The song features a simple theme in minor key which switches to major key at the end as the sprouts rise.

Sprouts In Regolith

Ever since I was a little kid, I've enjoyed playing and creating songs, and now I share my songs here in odd chance that someone else might enjoy them too. My influences are many, but I tend to gravitate towards progressive rock and metal and the epic and symphonic.

For my music, I do composition, arrangement, vocals and all instruments (except drums, those are programmed) and the mixing myself in my little home studio.

Gunnar Sletta

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