Barry Planetfall...

an instrumental journey home

Nine tracks of embracing, evocative music
from Common Ancestor.

Instrumentation:
acoustic and electric guitars,
acoustic and electric mandolins,
synthesizers, violin, percussion

To Listen to Samples...

click the titles in the "Story" that appears below

Price: $14.00

Click here

There are no lyrics to this journey... the music is the "soundtrack" to the mental movie described below. (click on track titles to hear samples)...

Farewell Visions
It's hard to believe the moment has arrived. Our history here has been so full of pain, shortsightedness, and violence, and yet –so full of beauty, of grace, of wonder. I think none of us is deeply sure, now, that we made the right decision in becoming part of this mission – this expedition, this experiment, this whatever-it-is. But no one is backing out at this point. After the years of preparation, we depend on each other's skills, strengths, and sensitivities too much now – if anyone were to drop out now, the whole possibility would disappear. For all the individuals, all the families involved. Farewell, Earth. Goodbye, beloved blue-green planet. Tomorrow morning, at dawn…

Time Capsule
Funny, the things each of us chose to leave behind as our individual "emblems". I wonder how long we'll be remembered. I wonder if, one day, our descendants might make a return trip, and look at these things, and try to imagine us as we were, today.

A Decade Gone By
Ten years, already? After the first year, most of us spent almost all the rest of that time in deep, encapsulated sleep. Is "space" really there, if no one is awake to experience it? …if we passed through, at near-light speeds, without beholding the stars, was there beauty there?

Spacewalk
No question anymore, about whether there's beauty between the stars. Half a dozen of us went "outside" a few hours ago. It was a ballet in slow motion, on a stage both terrifying and beyond ecstasy.

A Child's Dream
Today I suddenly remembered a recurring dream I used to have when I was little. Running through a meadow, the world soft with grass and flowers, in a night made bright by the light of three moons. There are some children aboard who have never been in a meadow. How would I explain it?

Each in His Prison
It's not just me… it seems like almost every adult on board is suddenly consumed with memories of Earth. What are we doing here, with no possibility of turning back, so unimaginably far from where we came from? There are hardly any conversations just now, beyond what needs to be said to keep things going properly, as one group goes off duty and the next comes on. The ship is so small.

Astral Storm
I guess there's nothing like a good life-threatening emergency, to pull you out of your memories. The "storm" began with a sudden deepening of the silence, somehow. From there, for all the violence that tossed us around, it all seemed to move so… slowly. It's over now, and people have come out of themselves and are talking again. No one was seriously hurt.

Planetfall
It's hard – again – to believe the moment has arrived. We achieved planetfall this morning. ("Morning" has a new meaning, now – the beginning of the time of daylight on this new world. The day is longer than daytime was on Earth, even in summertime.) There's a lot of things to get out of storage and organize.  The atmosphere and gravity are just about like "home". No one's gone outside yet. Tomorrow morning, after dawn…

Meadows and Moons
Some of us couldn't wait until dawn. I went outside, with a few others. And yes, my old dream was right, about the three moons.