Genre: Experimental

Tracks: 16 Release: Dec 7 2022

Each song presents with a carefully composed, accessible, relatively normal, though progressive, instrumental influenced by future synth, trip hop, a bit of galloping rock, and even elements of pop -- and then gloriously destroys itself. It messes up the settings with unexpected tones and deliciously deviant inappropriate virtual instrument choices. Tracks of acoustic melodica and flute, or synth, audaciously riff off the innocent melodies, having their hedonistic way with them. New potentials for vocals are ever-explored in unforeseen directions song by song.

Vocals carry scintillating emotions even when wordless, and some explore the range of creature calls like dolphins, horses, a duck, an otter, and a woman who is her own animal. Some pieces tell poetic stories, like "Be My Spider of Delight." Others, like "See No See" and "Rise" are sincere anthems against censorship. The moods range from eerie witchy, through joyfully playful, to dystopian. 

Background: I was trained as a singer when young, traveling around the state to win competitions with German lieder and modernist works, and I also took advantage of a silver flute scholarship. I later taught myself to play piano by regularly traveling to a nearby mountain to visit an empty chapel built into a boulder, where the doors remained open. I play an inordinate number of instruments besides those, including guitar, bass, Thai khaen, Indian punji, Greek double shepherd's flute, drum kit, and many more. I produced the album in Berkeley.

By Voicelight

Electric guitar, silver flute, voice, cardboard tube.

We Are Earth

Double wind wand (similar to a bull roarer) and penny whistle.

Whistle the Wind Home

It began with a jam with Steve Gilmartin on guitar and SA on bass, and sentence: "It's a giant walking around."

SA, added in the deep guitar and other instrumentation, produced the piece and made the art.

Liminal

Unproven Memory

The piece began with a jam with XAW on ambient guitar and SA on bass. Then SA added tracks, arranged, mixed, mastered.

Half-Remembered Lucid Dream

An expanded version, by demand, of "Sea Smokes."

Pearlescent Sea Smoke

Created and produced by SA (Rosemary Bensko).

Chimera

With Igor Iofe on trumpet https://soundcloud.com/igor-iofe-1  
https://igoriofe.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Gy7VvuvdLlTdUIOHyNhom
music.apple.com/us/artist/igor-iofe/1501202635

It began with SA sending drums and bass guitar to Iofe to add trumpet to, and then SA added more tracks and produced.

Philosophy Horizon (feat. Igor Iofe)

Not literally Classical, but it's useful to pick one of SoundCloud's major categories.

A Life

Screamer

I know I said
Let's go to bed
Let's never wake up
Let's put our dreams inside our heads

There's spiders on the walls
Their nests are in my heart
Do you understand me?
I understand you

Let's go to bed
Let's put our dreams inside our head
There's spiders on the walls
Their nests are in my heart
Do you understand me?
I understand you

Why are we not in bed?
Where have the spiders gone?
I reach out and there's no one there
Why is my heart a well?

I dip the drinking up inside the well
And lava flows out
I can't drink lava
I can't drink lava

Why is my heart a well?
Do you not know me? 
Do you not remember me?
Are you not there?
Is it only me?
And the memories of spiders?
A dream of walls
That once were here?

I understand you
Do you understand me?
Does anyone really understand spiders?
Let's go to bed
Let's put the spiders in our head
I feel their nests
Inside my eyes
But I don't see you
Where are you?

You're a mirror
Mirror, come here
Come here, mither
Come hither mither
Tell me who I am

Be my mirror
Be my little golden star
In the darkness, in the shadows, in the caverns
Underground, be my mirror
Reflect my light

Be my spider of delight
Be my spider of delight
Be my star in the shining night
Come inside my heart and say:

I'm your mirror every day
And I see you, you exist
You're here, there's walls around you
And a bed; there's something solid
To lay your head
The pillow is real
Come be inside my heart
And tell me, tell me,
Are you real?

Be my spider of delight
Shine my stars throughout the night
Come and tell me, tell me,
Are you real?
Where, where have I gone 
In the night
Where have I gone,
To delight?


SA on silver flute, synth, voice, sound design.

Be My Spider of Delight

Riding into Otherland

Won't you come away
Won't you come away, Ladeh, Ladeh
Won't you come away
Won't you step away, Ladeh,
No more fight today.
You've killed enough today
Won't you step away, Ladeh
Oh, the living, oh the dead
Oh the living, oh the dead
Won't you come away
You've killed enough today
Step away, Ladeh, step away
Oh the living, oh the dead
Oh the living, oh dead

Won't You Come Away

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, 
Ah, ooh, ah, oh
Say it ain't, it ain't so

Say it ain't so
Say it ain't so
Eh, ee, see, 
ain't so
Say it ain't so oh 

Lahala ah oh ah woo ooh ooh ooh
Ah ah
Say it ain't so
Sayin' it ain't so
It ain't so

Say it ain't so
Oh, oh
Ain't so

Say It Ain't So

I shall now arise
I shall now arise
I shall now rise, rise

I will rise up, rise up
Rise 

I shall now arise
Rise up, rise up, rise, rise up

I shall now arise
I shall now arise
I shall now arise
Rise, rise, rise
Rise, rise

I shall now arise
Rise, rise up, rise, rise

Rise

A song about the gaslighting of propaganda and censorship.

(Nonsense intro)
See no see, know no know
See no see, know no know
No hear hear
No feel feel
No see no say, hey

No hear, no say nothing, never
Nothing real
Only know what they tell you on the news
That is what they say
No hear, no feel, so see, no no no say
No no know oh no

See No See, Know No Know

End of the Line

End Of The Line

With Chris Nolte on Water Jar
SA on synch, cymbal, voice, sound design.

Water Jar Suite

Desert Water

With Steve Gilmartin on guitar.

Steve Gilmartin came over to jam with his bluesy electric guitar, with on my Peavy modeling amp while I played bass. He called the cat horror theme.

After I sent him the preliminary modifications of our playing as a foundation, he, after doing some unbiased research, emphatically stated that the title wording and substance should of an all out attack by cat zombies be as scary as possible. 

On Halloween, I made it so. 

I added many layers of synth, screams, effects, and darkness.

Attack of the Cat Zombies

Attack Of Cat Zombies

With Chris Nolte on water jar.

The rhythms of water are not to be taken for granted or tamed and expected to follow human conventions.

The Irresistable Logic of Water

The Irresistible Logic of Water

With Chris Nolte on water jar.

Insane syncopation between the bassline and lead.

Water Your Bonkers

Jolly lilt.

With Chris Nolte on water jar.
SA on synth, voice, sound design.

Water Fort

With XAW on ambient drone guitar.

See the elaborate animated video here: https://youtu.be/0n_Ga3ukZzI

Visions of the Burning Infinte Void Mirror

Visions of the Burning Infinite Void Mirror

Edge Cat

Edge Cat's Journey

Only justice.

Lyrics

No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty, 
No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty

You knew all along
We knew all along
There was never any question
All along, all along
No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty

Look what you did
Look what you did
Look what you did
What you did
What you did

No amnesty
You knew all along
And so did we
And so did we No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty  
You lied, you lied, you murdered, you stole
You gaslighted
And we knew all along, all along, all along
No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty, 

Your turn now, 
Your turn to die, 
Your turn to pay
Your turn, your turn

No amnesty, no amnesty
Prison, prison, prison, prison, prison 
No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty  Destruction all around, destruction back you, now 
No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty now
No amnesty now  
Stop pretending you didn’t know
Stop pretending you didn’t know 
You knew, you knew, you knew
That’s why you did it, 
Isn’t it now
Isn’t now

No amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty, no amnesty
Not one bit one bit of amnesty, amnesty, amnesty
For your lies
For your hate
For your destruction

No Amnesty

A Story Untold

Tower Dance

We Ride the Sun

The sun
And we ride the sun the sun
Places never seen
Never seen
Places that have never been
And we ride the sun
Here, there and everywhere
The sun

Never coming back again, 
Again, again, again, again
And we ride the sun again
And around and around around
Around around around
Around around around around around

And we’ll never go this way again
Space is wide
Space is in your dream
Space is in the eyes of cats
Meditating holding hands
Space is in the center of the flower
Space is buttoning your shirt
Top to bottom bottom to the top

And we ride the sun, sun, sun

We Ride the Sun

For Tommy

Infinite Sea   

Ah, do you remember living on the ground, 
Remember living on the sky
Do you remember living in the sea
Do you remember
Living inside me?

Oooo ahhh

You remember living inside me 
Inside the infinite sea 
The infinite me, infinite me
Child of mine you always always were
Always will, will be

Infinite Sea

With Steve Gilmartin on bluesy slide guitar.

Shadows

Reversed Days

A.J. Kaufmann's: Reversed Days (feat. Sound Animal vocals and lyrics)

Are some people parts of people? 

An intense experimental ambient meditative journey through the self's interactions, patterns, emanations, illusions, masks, tricks, tests, wounds, continuities and discontinuities, surprises, empathies, and empty opens.

With XAW on ambient drone guitar 

This instrumental piece began as part of a joyful jam with XAW and SA, while XAW played electric guitar and Helix and SA played a series of handheld instruments: Greek double shepherd's flute, silver flute, penny whistle, boatswain's whistle, slide whistle, wooden recorder, Suling, crotales, triangle. 

SA later added the keyboard percussion and did the sound design.

Parts

Experimental music featuring a broken cymbal with unusual devices impacting it such as crotales. Spinning and shaking objects. Keyboards added later.

Cymbal Armor

Colors

Running with the wild horses along the water. 

Credits -- SA on Greek double shepherd's flute, stacked hand drums, pennywhistle, synth, and sound design.

Untameable

Running Herd

An experimental music journey through the wilderness of yourself. May you come out the other side laughing bright.

The experience began as part of a continual jam with XAW on ambient drone guitar and SA on everything else, all acoustic, laid out around her. Then, SA added the other layers and did sound design.
credits

Credits:

XAW on electric guitar

SA on slide whistle, boatswain's whistle, penny whistle, melodica, harmonica, silver flute, keyboards controlling the synth, extensive instruments of creative percussion, and sound design

Human Creatures

Birth

Began as a jam with XAW on drums and SA on guitar. SA added tracks and sound design.

Octopus to You

Greek double shepherd's flute, kaen, pennywhistle, slide whistle, boatswain's pipe, shaking objects, broken cymbal. Keyboards added later.

Approach the Wild

Just water in glass and metal is all it takes.

Water Bright

Experimental music that ranges feral beyond human constraints. 

The music covers a lot of non-genres. Still, for background, there are multiple influences including Dark/Ambient, Psych, Doom, Drone, Noise Metal, Kosmische, and Romantic Era, with special nods to the bands Swans, Earth, Caspar Brotzman Massaker. Dystopian Inspirational for noble outlaws.

Electric guitar, bass, drum kit, lap steel slide and electrified dulcimers played with a violin bow, bodhrán, Peruvian triangle drum, snare drum, silver flute, double shepherd's flute, suling, jaw harp, pungi, khaen, melodica, harmonica, broken cymbal, double wind wand, recorder, boatswain's pipe, penny whistle, slide whistle, synth, voice, found objects, electric tennis racket...

The man in my logo is not me -- I photographed him and created the art. My name is Rosemary Bensko, and Sound Animal (SA) is my artist name. While most songs are just me, and I do all the sound design, when other contributors are involved, they become part of the band for those songs.

Collaborators are always credited: collaborators in some Sound Animal pieces that I'm honored to present to you: XAW, Igor Iofe, Chris Nolte,Tom McCarthy of TM's Sundae Sauce, Steve Gilmartin, Psychedelic Mayhem, The Fall of Saigon, A.J. Kaufmann, with remixes by The Infinite Wimshurst. There are also joint ventures and SA playing and singing on other people's music.

Thank you for spending time here. If you'd like to support, you could do so by listening to a Sound Animal song on Spotify or YouTube. I have a hefty audience here, but there....

Sound Animal

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