"The true symbol should be understood as an expression of an intuitive idea that cannot yet be formulated in any better way. When Plato, for instance, puts the whole problem of the theory of knowledge in his parable of the cave, or when Christ expresses the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven in parables, these are genuine and true symbols, that is, attempts to express something for which no verbal concept yet exists" - C.G. Jung

Three years ago I began lending greater credence to a group cf images and phrases I had been passively receiving from myself for some time. The most dominant motif in this symbolism was the contrast between silver and gold which became the aesthetic cornerstone for a set of songs and, eventually (an unusually long 'eventually'), this album.
I wrote most of the songs in May of 1998 at Broughty Ferry, Scotland. In August of the same year, I came to Indiana where the Secretly Canadians introduced me to Jeb Banner, LonPaul Ellrich, and Greg Backus. With Jeb I discussed my desire to record an album that 'sounded like silver'. To my surprise, he not only understood the sound I was striving for, but was extremely sympathetic to the over-all spirit of such an enterprise.
Dan Burton was gracious enough to provide us with his digital 8-track and Jeb, LonPaul, Greg and I recorded the basic tracks in one afternoon. Moving to the dank cellar of what was then Secretly Canadian headquarters, Jeb and I spent the following days in sleep-deprived delirium recording more tracks, searching for the formula for the sound we heard in our heads. Accustomed to the 'warmer' sound of analog 4-tracks and limited by low-quality microphones, the final result could not have been called bronze, much less silver. We considered the project a failure and I returned home to Fargo, North Dakota somewhat dismayed.
Although one song ("Silver Sound*) was mixed and released on Horror Vacui the following year, the remaining songs drifted from memory until summer 2000 when Jim Zespy and I resurrected the neglected session. Guided by the same desire to approximate a silver sound, we added more tracks, dulcified the originals, and produced a final mix of which this is an authentic copy. The one song included here not sharing this geneology is "(Bells) Ring Out The News; which was recorded entirely in the summer of the year 2000 by Jim and I.
These songs, (with the exception of Ring Out The News), were written at a time when I believed spiritual questions to be behind me. (The 'Silver Sound', as it originally struck me, was conceived solely as an 'anti
political' album.) It was only through the process of writing and recording Horror Vacui (eight months later) that I realized the importance of the symbols in drawing my attention away from the purely intellectual drive to
understand God toward the cultivation of a will and desire to stand under God.
Although I refrained from analyzing the imagery of these songs, preferring to let it speak for itself, I nevertheless intuited silver to be more valuable than gold since silver was "your own way to go" i.e. the path to self-knowledge (silver road). Gold, on the contrary, was (like the sun) illuminating though potentially blinding. The people with "the sun in their face" are like those who attempt to look into the face of God and are made blind.
Recently, I have discovered striking similarities between the silver sound imagery and the texts of medieval alchemists, at least some of whom understood themselves to be exploring the spirit. C.G. Jung described the dominant theme of alchemical systems: "Mercurius possessed a double nature, being a chthonic god of revelation and also the spirit of quicksilver. As the planet Mercury, he is nearest to the sun, hence he is preeminently related to gold. But, as quicksilver, he dissolves the gold and extinguishes its sunlike brilliance...It was probably owing to its all too obvious analogy with the sun that gold was denied the highest philosophical honor, which fell instead to the lapis philosophorum. The transformer is above the transformed, and transformation is one of the magical properties of the marvelous stone. The Rosarium philosophorum says: "For our stone, namely the living western quicksiver which has placed itself above the gold and vanquished it, is that which kills and quickens.""
While these symbols may appear esoteric, I believe they are in no way mystical or merely subjective. Rather they are attempts to name something in experience for which words do not do justice. "True symbols" are like subtle timbres resonating across centuries of time inside all who listen to themselves carefully and with wonder. All who feel a heart in their chests and learn to praise any drop of blood courageous enough to pass through a narrow ventricle into the life it both creates and leaves behind. We all die, what a pity we do not all live first. I praise the blood that dies so that we may live. It is my Lord.

- June Panic, 2001