Dark Sines is an Appalachian experimental artist whose compositions tell stories of mental illness and healing. This can be felt and heard within WC 14, Taylor’s debut album. The Cenote Expedition is an intimate and personal journey of struggle and strength.
The album is accompanied by a short fiction piece- both dark and inspiring- that guides the listener on a journey of healing and deeper self awareness. Aquatic and Trek-inspired, The Cenote Expedition is an alternate universe to go to when facing loss, trauma, and existential crisis.
The Cenote Expedition is a science fiction story, told through sound, art, and literature. The Printed copy of the Essay will be shipped upon request upon era specific font snd paper This essay is the pretext for the adventure. While the titles of the tracks give chapters to the story, it is up to the listener to write the details...
Written, Recorded, and Mixed by Taylor Proffitt (Dark Sines) between 2020-2021
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios
Released on Waxing Crescent Records by Phil Dodds
Music Video for "Loss Followed You to the Abyss" by Mark Holden as Invisible Plan
Cassette Artwork by Eidilon Arts
Surprise Track #10 Instrumentation, Vocals, Mixing & Mastering by Dark Sines March 2020
Includes unlimited streaming of The Cenote Expedition
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
Below you can find the scifi essay that was written to correspond with the album listening experience and a bonus track with a background on how when, where and why the album was made.
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Dark Sines is an Appalachian experimental artist whose compositions tell stories of mental illness and healing. This can be felt and heard within WC 14, Taylor’s debut album. The Cenote Expedition is an intimate and personal journey of struggle and strength.
The album is accompanied by a short fiction piece- both dark and inspiring- that guides the listener on a journey of healing and deeper self awareness. Aquatic and Trek-inspired, The Cenote Expedition is an alternate universe to go to when facing loss, trauma, and existential crisis.
The Cenote Expedition is a science fiction story, told through sound. This essay is the pretext for the adventure. While the titles of the tracks give chapters to the story, it is up to the listener to write the details...
The story is that of a deep sea exhibitioner and radical environmentalist, whose life partner and lover has just died in a traumatic accident. Early in the grieving process, a prolific scientific discovery is made of a deep subterranean waterway whose birthplace is a cavernous cenote in Guatemala. Preliminary readings provide evidence and hypotheses that fossils, structures, and possibly mysterious forms of life exist deep beneath a crustal stretch. The waterways lead beneath a series of dormant volcanoes, which, over centuries, opened up vast aquatic areas, including caverns of open air. These waterways and caverns are found to be traversable, but are too small for even the smallest of submarines.
Collaborating with Aeronautics researchers, the team develops cutting edge deep sea scuba suits that have characteristics of space gear, to withstand extreme temperatures and barometric pressure. After being tested kilometers below the ocean’s surface, the mission is scheduled. Since this is an incredibly unique and unprecedented expedition, it is only comparable to traveling in open space, without a shuttle.
Luckily, the team is diverse, each member an expert in their field of study. The team is also heavily equipped with cutting edge technology in order to embark on this historic scientific mission. However, the expedition is estimated to potentially take months, which is expected to cause significant physical and psychological stress. The diver is repeatedly tested for psychological endurance, and by a miracle passes them with flying colors. The feelings subdued in the passion of this discovery will return kilometers beneath the Earth’s crust…
The expedition is a tumultuous experience, pairing psychological distress with moments of sheer, ineffable beauty, concluding with breakthrough grief, followed by a profound healing experience which shatters and transforms lifelong wounds, which were never confronted. Years after the mission, the diver is a renowned scientist who still thinks of their loved one when hearing the horn of a train billowing up the mountains to their cabin deep in the cascades.
This is the story of grief, loss, mourning, healing, escapism, integration, love, and self discovery. Let your imagination run wild with all of the gorgeous natural wonders seen and discoveries made along the way, as well as the deep connection and appreciation the diver makes to the earth on the journey. Imagine the logistical and technological problems that happen kilometers beneath the Earth in a subaquatic space suit. Create the character development within the diver and the crew, in regard to their psychic healing and connection to one another, driven by a passion for personal and scientific exploration. Most importantly use this story and music to guide yourself as you listen in processing loss, psychological struggles and trauma.
This story and album is dedicated to my dear friend, Charles Alexander Hess, who died of an overdose on August 3rd 2020. It is also a symbol of hope for a more beautiful world, one imagined by Gene Roddenberry's work and improved upon by generations of visionaries and activists, before and after his passing. When we take care of ourselves, we can better take care of each other on this journey through time and space on the planet that we all share.
credits
released March 25, 2022
Written, Recorded, and Mixed by Taylor Proffitt
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios
Released on Waxing Crescent Records by Phil Dodds
Music Video for "Loss Followed You to the Abyss" by Mark Holden as Invisible Plan
Dark Sines is the music project of Taylor Proffitt. Their compositions are designed to bring the struggles of mental illness
into form, to give people a safe place to process emotions, and to step into the unconscious; to discover ones deepest dreams, trauma, desires, and ultimately self-love.
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