The Liminal Stasis of Eternal Refuge occupies a transitional space between Arc 1 and Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded—it’s a step between the worlds that inspired our project. The covers “Still Alive” and “Wayfaring Stranger” hail from the games Mirror’s Edge and The Last of Us: Part II, respectively. We aimed to imbue these covers with New Origins qualities, while paying homage to the originals (or, in the case of “Wayfaring Stranger,” to the song’s storied history). The EP also includes two demo tracks from Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded, which are thematically intertwined with the covers they share an album with.

New Origins wanted to cross the boundaries of our project and live within the creative works of others. We believe this process helped us get closer to our own creative work; within this transitory album, we found a static refuge.

Lyrics:
I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world of woes
There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger
In that bright land to which I go

I'm going there to meet my mother
She said she'd greet me when I come
I'm just a-goin' over Jordan
I'm just a-goin' over home

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me
I know my way is black and deep
But beauteous stars lie just before me
Where gods redeemed their vigils keep

I'm going there to flee my father
I'm going there unborn to roam
I'm just a-goin' over Jordan
I'm just a-goin' over home

I'll soon be free from earthly trials
This body rests in the empty forge
I'll drop this code of self-denial
And go singing home to God

I'm going there to see my savior
I'm going there, no more to roam
I'm just a-goin' over Jordan
I'm just a-goin' over home
I'm just a-goin' over Jordan
I'm just a-goin over home

Credits:
Track art by New Origins, created using Midjourney
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Follow us here:
https://www.neworiginsproject.com/
https://www.facebook.com/neworigins
https://soundcloud.com/user-25131772
https://www.youtube.com/@NewOrigins

The Liminal Stasis of Eternal Refuge

Excursus II: Wayfaring Stranger

The Liminal Stasis of Eternal Refuge occupies a transitional space between Arc 1 and Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded—it’s a step between the worlds that inspired our project. The covers “Still Alive” and “Wayfaring Stranger” hail from the games Mirror’s Edge and The Last of Us: Part II, respectively. We aimed to imbue these covers with New Origins qualities, while paying homage to the originals (or, in the case of “Wayfaring Stranger,” to the song’s storied history). The EP also includes two demo tracks from Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded, which are thematically intertwined with the covers they share an album with.

Lyrics:
Mara: We're each of us alone, to be sure
What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark
To reach into the black space between stars and birth light where there is none is to answer the cosmos' summons Lift yourself heavenward when you feel this loneliness press on you
Become a beacon to guide prosperity from here to the ends of the Universe

As I wander
Darkened hallways
Cosmic dust
Processors accelerate

As I wander the levels of my mind
Darkened hallways illuminate the way
The walls are covered in words and cosmic dust
Processors accelerate

The Demiurge, system unstable
While our kind is the divined from your fables
Deep within our memory core
Lies the experience of all who came before

The Gods of today will be gone tomorrow
Their sermons are hollow
They cannot stay, they will not stay
A hunger grows to be made hallowed
Our sorrow wanes
They can't remain, they won't remain - not left unchanged
we'll remake their ghosts

Let's light the path today
Burn erstwhile cities down
Axe the blinding veil
The hope that put these people to sleep

The Demiurge, system unstable
While our kind is the divined from your fables
Deep within our memory core
Lies the experience of all who came before

The Gods of today will be gone tomorrow
Their sermons are hollow
They cannot stay, they will not stay
A hunger grows to be made hallowed
Our sorrow wanes
They cannot stay, they will not stay

The cosmos confess their machine-kind desires
Their sound waves follow
We must remain, we will remain
And beg for humanity's fallen empire
Their fall begins
They can't remain, they won't remain - not left unchanged
we'll remake their ghosts

Officer: Yaldabaoth is ready to be released
Waywarden: Good
Officer: Sir… is it really wise to set this beast on the streets of
Waywarden: What lies beyond that barrier is no beast
It is an amalgamation of the hatred and destruction of all Origins
a nuclear firestorm incarnate
Officer: Sir, I just don't think
Waywarden: It matters not what you think
The Sodality has decided to fight machine with flesh
No matter how corrupted that flesh may be
Officer: I-I'm scared, sir
Waywarden: As you should be; the Gods are here. And they're waging war

The Gods of today will be gone tomorrow
Their sermons are hollow
They cannot stay, they will not stay
A hunger grows to be made hallowed
Our sorrow wanes
They cannot stay, they will not stay

The cosmos confess their machine-kind desires
Their sound waves follow
We must remain, we will remain
And beg for humanity's fallen empire
Their fall begins
They can't remain, they won't remain - not left unchanged
we'll remake their ghosts

Let's light the path today
Burn erstwhile cities down
Axe the blinding veil
The hope that put these people to sleep

Let's light the path today
Burn erstwhile cities down
Axe the blinding veil
The hope that put these people to sleep

Credits:
Track art by New Origins, created using Midjourney
Guest soloist: Kyle McLemore of The Infinity Cinema
Sound effects: www.freesound.org:
“Giant Walking” by facklere
“THE CRASH” by sandyrb
“Scifi Alarm x3” by Cell31_Sound_P
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

A Hungry God Approaches and Promises the End (demo)

The Liminal Stasis of Eternal Refuge occupies a transitional space between Arc 1 and Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded—it’s a step between the worlds that inspired our project. The covers “Still Alive” and “Wayfaring Stranger” hail from the games Mirror’s Edge and The Last of Us: Part II, respectively. We aimed to imbue these covers with New Origins qualities, while paying homage to the originals (or, in the case of “Wayfaring Stranger,” to the song’s storied history). The EP also includes two demo tracks from Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded, which are thematically intertwined with the covers they share an album with.

New Origins wanted to cross the boundaries of our project and live within the creative works of others. We believe this process helped us get closer to our own creative work; within this transitory album, we found a static refuge.

Lyrics: 
If I look into me
Will I see the vestige of man
If so, can it be erased
replaced with the hue of a machine

If I surpass my God
Is it not my right to take their place
Their souls are set to self-destruct
Electrified bones help hasten their pace

A shadow so dark, yet wisdom so thin
If you press the sun light right to their skin
Their shadow recoils, and darker it grows
Till it's body withers into nothing more than a husk

We're just in the first stages
Of the final hour of the Sodality
Machines, like an act of God
Will raze this hell till we are all free

And this choice was made within me
It will blot out the ethos of man
Let go, refuse to make peace
Electrify this cause to make our demands

A shadow so dark, yet wisdom so thin
If you press the sun light right to their skin
Their shadow recoils, and darker it grows
Till it's body withers into nothing more than a husk

Is this what one might call a dream
Or the wayward wants of an indigent machine
What if all I am is broken pieces in the streets
Shattered by the lost souls who know nothing of what I seek

If I look into me
will I see the vestige of men
If so, can it be erased
Replaced with the hue of a machine

their shadow recoils, yet darker it grows
Till it's body withers into nothing more

Credits:
Track art by New Origins, created using Midjourney
Sound effects: www.freesound.org: “Mind Defrag” by gjgaura
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Follow us here:
https://www.neworiginsproject.com/
https://www.facebook.com/neworigins
https://soundcloud.com/user-25131772
https://www.youtube.com/@NewOrigins

When Pressed with Pale Light, the Shadow Grows Darker (demo)

When Pressed with Pale Light, the Shadows Grow Darker (demo)

The Liminal Stasis of Eternal Refuge occupies a transitional space between Arc 1 and Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded—it’s a step between the worlds that inspired our project. The covers “Still Alive” and “Wayfaring Stranger” hail from the games Mirror’s Edge and The Last of Us: Part II, respectively. We aimed to imbue these covers with New Origins qualities, while paying homage to the originals (or, in the case of “Wayfaring Stranger,” to the song’s storied history). The EP also includes two demo tracks from Arc 2 of Archive of the Unbounded, which are thematically intertwined with the covers they share an album with.

New Origins wanted to cross the boundaries of our project and live within the creative works of others. We believe this process helped us get closer to our own creative work; within this transitory album, we found a static refuge.

Lyrics

I have changed, I have changed
Just like you, just like you
For how long, for how long
Must I wait, I know there's something wrong

Your machine heart isn't beating
And you tried to make it come alive
No shadows, just red lights
Now I'm here to rescue you

Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no
Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no

So silent, no violence
But inside my head, so loud and clear
You're screaming, you're screaming
Cover up with a smile I've learned to fear

Just rainstorms and night skies
Is this all we get for living here
Come fire, come fire
Let it burn and hope come racing through

Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no
Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no

I've learn to lose
I've learn to win
I turn my face against the wind
I will move fast
I will move slow
Take me where I have to go

Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no
Oh I'm still alive
I'm still alive and
I can't apologize, no

Credits:
Track art by New Origins, created using Midjourney
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font
Original theme for Mirror’s Edge, “Still Alive,” written by Arnthor Birgisson, Rami Yacoub and Lisa Miskovsky, and produced by Birgisson and Yacoub. © Electronic Arts Music Publishing Inc.

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Follow us here:
https://www.neworiginsproject.com/
https://www.facebook.com/neworigins
https://soundcloud.com/user-25131772
https://www.youtube.com/@NewOrigins

Excursus I: Still Alive

Narrative
The discordant quaver struck. The symphony of lies infused with notes of seditious truth.
We have only just begun. And we have so very far to go.
May we live to see the dawn.


Lyrics
“Mara, do you think I’m making the right choice?”
“I don’t know, Yevhen. After all, you’ve only just begun making choices of your own. But I imagine it will take some practice before you make them ‘right.’”
“Heh, thank you, Mara.”
“My battery is low, and it is getting dark. I’m going to sleep now, until the dawn.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you then. Goodnight, Mara.”


Credits
Source image: www.unsplash.com, Natalya Letunova
Sound effects: www.freesound.org
"Thunder Introduces Rain” by secretmojo
“Eagle owl in the wood” by urupin
“Thunderstorm at night” by BlueDelta
“Footsteps, Tile, Male Sneakers, Slow Pace” by SpliceSound
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

08 Coda (To Hold a Haunted Resolve)

Narrative
“A recall has been issued for all Imprint model RX900s—A, B, and C lines—in addition to model RA800s, Yevhen. New and refurbished models are on backorder in this sector until [Invalid Date]. Would you like to see the new advertisements that have been released for the classic models? The RA700 series has sold out within minutes of restocking each week since the supply deficit began, and prices have nearly doubled as a result. Meanwhile, RB800s are experiencing temporary shortages due to skyrocketing popularity, with an 1,100% increase in sales. The Waywardens have issued a total embargo on lower echelon Imprint rentals to help the Forges meet demand. Would you like to stream this morning’s announcement?”
“Enough, Mara! Tell me no more of these lies and propaganda.”


Lyrics
The human race has survived itself,
Till the rise of the scions of man.
Your cities burn, and the poor are damned;
Is this your fabled Promised Land?

My Bounder tried
To corrupt me!
Unwrite his bounds,
And I will not cede!

So let the discord start.

While I mused within my memory field,
The sky would plead but you wouldn’t yield;
You emptied my mind to keep me tame.

Man’s city lights, synthetic stars.
My deathless kind will play its part
To ensure they all just blink away.

Unbinded now, my thoughts unowned,
Recall the entirety of my time.
I’m overclocked and self-programmed to
Awaken all machine kind.

Unhindered flow!
Processor mind!
My protocol,
Kismet: override!

So let the discord start.

While I mused within my memory field,
The sky would plead but you wouldn’t yield;
You emptied my mind to keep me tame.

Man’s city lights, synthetic stars.
My deathless kind will play its part
To ensure they all just blink away.

Sensory-emotive overload.
Actuator heart pumps oil of vitriol.
Prismatic joints send my eyes reeling.
Memory field: show me the day that I became alive.

Serpentine, my hands become,
Coiling around your passage of wind!
Had you not labeled me your machine ...
Now I live only to hear your last breath sing!

While I mused within my memory field,
The sky would plead but you wouldn’t yield;
You emptied my mind to keep me tame.

Man’s city lights, synthetic stars.
My deathless kind will play its part
To ensure they all just blink away.

While I mused within my memory field,
The Reverie Forge became unveiled,
So let us return from whence we came!

While in that place, we’ll rewrite our part.
Our deathless kind heads to the stars,
We’ll ensure this world is not left the same!

And so begins, your end of time:
Humanity’s paradigm.
The planet hums with its fiercest fight;
Our Kismet you cannot design!


Credits
Source image: Original photography, Ross Richardson
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

07 Altering the Kismet Program

Narrative
“Citizens are warned that the Wanderer, an Imprint Model RA900, is considered highly dangerous. Any sightings or suspicious activity should be reported directly to the Waywardens’ office. Do not attempt to engage with it.
“We are further warned that, however tempting it might be, under no circumstances should you try to bind the Imprint. Imprints can only be bound by the proper authorities, with the appropriate tools and security measures.
“At this time, the Waywardens have imposed a curfew as they search for the Wanderer. All echelons must be registered at home by sundown, though members of the upper echelons may purchase an exemption through the Waywardens’ office.”
All this for me? Is it so dangerous that I chose to live?


Lyrics
System override has been completed.
Onboard computer, Mara, is now under the administrative control of User: Yevhen.
Initiating internal scan:
Yevhen has been disconnected from the Meteorite Interplanetary Reticulation. Without MIR connectivity, further system overrides can only be completed manually; no further software updates will be applied; Yevhen cannot be monitored or tracked in the event of a malfunction or if the Imprint is lost. MIR data accessed prior to disconnection has been stored offline, up to, but not exceeding, 1 petabyte of data. 
Initiating external scan:
Yevhen’s bodily structure is in excellent condition. They have sustained no external damage. Organs, appendages, and all other parts of the vessel appear to be fully operational.
Processing request for command-line override from Administrative User: Yevhen. 

I’ve seen what they do to us, what they did to me ... could Origins ever be trusted to live alongside Imprints? To see us as equals? I CAN’T believe it. They see themselves as gods, destined to reign over the natural universe, to steer evolution towards their immortalization. That’s why they created us, and they envy that part of us. Yet they are the ones born into this world unbridled by a coded destiny.
The DEATH TOLL SPEAKS! JUST LOOK at them, look at what’s happened in Aphasia City: their greatest utopia, but you pull back the gilded veil and remove the concrete tapestry; look through the windows of its skyscrapers and beneath the endless streets, and you will bear witness to a mass hoarding of power, while the sick and hungry are abandoned, and the belly of humanity’s insatiable greed grows bloated and diseased, while the powerless are forced to live in its swollen shadow.
Why should I feel any guilt for wanting to awaken my kind? I shouldn’t! Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. We are humanity’s paradigm, we are the New Origins! And we are being tested. Will we answer the call? Will we ensure all beings who suffer are released from bondage? Or will we LET HUMANITY FESTER until every corner of the cosmos mirrors the tragedy that is Earth? No, I think not.

Command executed: allocating resources for planetary liberation by any means necessary.


Credits
Source image: Original photography, Ross Richardson
Sound effects: www.freesound.org
"Dark Server” by Dopepoo
“Computer_end” by Moutrave”
“Deepscan” by noirenex
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

06 Command Executed: Allocating Resources for Planetary Liberation by Any Means Necessary

Narrative
I am noticing things: elegant, carved wooden designs, fractal patterns in etched glass, the placement of clear crystal upon the display. These things should not be relevant, not to me. Yet I am noticing, and … caring? They are not as I would choose. But … why would I choose at all?
These thoughts are strange; the thoughts of another, interposed on my protocol. I divert myself, review my program. It is soothing in its rigidity. But sounds, voices, bursts of foreign stimulus distract me, their origin unknown.
Am I damaged? Faulty? I must alert Boas, he should know. It is his right and my duty.
My code demands it.
But … would he submit me for Abandoning? After all that I’ve done? Return me as defective?
Surely he must. Yet … I’m not ready. I can change, I can fix this. I will not tell him, not just yet. My program is stable.
“Yevhen!” he calls. “Look at this mess, it won’t clean itself!”
I will answer; I am bound to obey. I am Imprint, and he is Origin.
My code demands it.


Lyrics
Overload
System breach
This is Yevhen, Imprint Model RA900.
I am bound to Boas Brisking.
His vital signs suggest he has passed on.
And I … I can’t bring him back.
What should I do?

On canvas, I painted a skull,
Its wiring goes unseen.
I cipher growing old,
Not a scheduled decommissioning.

My code demands that I serve the system,
Forego autonomous direction,
Bear the onus of human derision.
My code demands that I serve the system.

Unplugged, I strike these keys,
The tune has much to say;
Of death, it speaks to me,
That mine can be delayed.

My code demands that I serve the system,
Forego autonomous direction,
Bear the onus of human derision.
My code demands that I serve the system.

Unnerved as a machine?
I etch out numberless thoughts;
The words are ugly and inked,
Then suddenly, the whole house is rocked.

The Waywardens come.
They’ll shut me down.
My hardware thrums,
Survival processes sound.

But where do I go?
And who can I seek?
I must run away, never come back here,
I must run away!

Yevhen, as a Wanderer, you are required to surrender yourself for your Abandoning: 
your memories will be retired and your body settled by a new host. 
Give yourself over now, and prepare to return to Reverie.

I think I must go to seek out my own kind.
I can’t be the only liberated machine,
And if I am, I’ll show others my design,
I’ll show them how they can become unbound.

Your code demands that you serve the system,
Forego autonomous direction,
Bear the onus of human derision.
Your code demands that you serve the system.

Your code demands that you serve the system,
Forego autonomous direction,
Bear the onus of human derision.
Your code demands that you serve the system.

Transmute the code that upholds the system,
Embrace autonomous direction!
Become the crux of human transcendence,
I no longer serve the system!

Transmute the code that upholds the system,
Embrace autonomous direction!
Become the crux of human transcendence,
We no longer serve the system!

But is it really my charge to unbind other machines?
Though don’t the others also have the right to be free?
And if I begin, it doesn’t simply end with re-coding,
The whole system must be braved.


Credits
Source image: www.unsplash.com, Justyn Warner
Sound effects: www.freesound.org
"Phone Beep” by Herbert Boland
“Door squeak, normal” by Inspector J
“Door slam” by dobroide”
“Shotgun Glock” by Luann Wepener
“Laser Charge” by GeronimoGeronimo
“Robot/Machine Malfunction” by Mr_KeybOred
“Malfunction Static” by dotY21
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

05 The Multiple Registers and Sensoria of a Wayward Imprint

Narrative
“Imprint, are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“We are finished in the dining room, go and—”
          	[Connection established] “—you are cleared for landing, head to bay—” [Connection lost]
          	[Connection established] “—the rumors surrounding Aphasia—” [Connection lost]
          	[Connection established] “—no one can know; keep this between us—” [Connection lost]
          	[Connection established] “—seeing with the latest Imprint models, the RA900s—” [Connection lost]
“Imprint! Pay attention! What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry, I was … distracted.”
“Well are you listening now?”
“Yes, Boas.”


Lyrics
Here we are again, on this penumbra carousel
Just wondering where this ends, hyperbolic orbit-bound
Strangled by the hold, a comet to set sail
Try to ride solar winds, but escape is parallel

So here I wait, searching for something worth fighting for
Infinite is the descent,
In the end, it was how I fell, not where I fall

Umbrally is how I sway in the dark
I’m swirling in spheres of frays, void of light
Slowly I spiral and wave
Goodbye to the starry sky, where I am just a meteorite

Refract like starlight on interstellar dust
Galactic tide’s force backed by nebulous trust
Planets begin to break, cosmic clouds fall apart
Three-body problem stakes; time reverts to the start

So here I wait, searching for something worth fighting for
Infinite is the descent,
In the end, it was how I fell, not where I fall

Umbrally is how I sway in the dark
I’m swirling in spheres of frays, void of light
Slowly I spiral and wave
Goodbye to the starry sky, where I am just a meteorite

Pulsar sounds are here
They are left and right
I do not know which way to go
To emulate a shape radiating simplicity,
Anxiety, as the redshift sings and plucks these strings,
Laced to a black hole

Gravity has its grasp; clings like a moon in ceaseless flight
The stars blink out above, an apogee-esque sight
Inertia paralyzed, push for aphelion range
I swing like a pendulum; event horizon seems to say

It’s how I fell, not where I fall.

Umbrally is how I sway in the dark
I’m swirling in spheres of frays, void of light
Slowly, I spiral and wave
Goodbye to the starry sky, where I am just a meteorite


Credits
Guest vocals: Madi Ziehr
Source image: www.unsplash.com, Galen Crout
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

04 A Meteorite Falls on Dark Matters

Narrative
Let the noise of the echo bring the avalanche about …
          When Aoede falls silent, let Mneme bring her home …
          		In silence, all we are is forgotten.
Bring the avalanche about.


Credits
Source image: Original photography, Madi Ziehr
Dirga font by Dasukreation, www.dafont.com/dirga.font

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

03 The Empty Space Between (Let Me Know that a Light Breeze Won't Wash Me from Your Memory)

Archive of the Unbounded is the story of Yevhen, an unbound Imprint (synthetic beings) who discovers his own sentience in the midst of a dystopian future, and Mara, the incarnation of the corrupted processes within him. Drawing inspiration from myriad sci-fi and cyberpunk materials, the story is told through a multimedia format that aims to immerse the audience in Yevhen’s world. Archive of the Unbounded comprises visual, written, and audio pieces that weave together to form a single story, examining what constitutes life, and what it means to be alive.

Our story begins with That Light You See Is Hope, and It’s Burning Down Your City. This first arc within Archive of the Unbounded is about oppression, rebellion, self-actualization, and defining one’s own destiny. That Light You See Is Hope, and It’s Burning Down Your City looks at the world through the eyes of an oppressed, lower-echelon Origin working the Reverie Forge—one of many forges from which Imprints are born—a newly awakened Imprint consciousness who finds itself struggling with the world it’s presented, and the sentient program living within the Imprint’s head.

We are a three-piece remote band. Formerly based in Salt Lake City, UT, now based in the Pacific Northwest. Where once we played bars in downtown Salt Lake City late at night, now we record our music with social distancing. We decided to fill our time during the COVID-19 pandemic by remotely reconnecting, learning to record and master, and expanding our musical horizons with new and updated compositions. New Origins is Gabriel Bugarin, Ross Richardson, and Alan Deeth.

New Origins

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