Scanners, Part One

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This episode includes an original song, composed and recorded within the past few weeks; micro-fiction based on the song; and production notes.

Scanners Part One

I see them.

They're coming
with their scanners scanning 
while their eyes are open.

The leaves are falling 
in slow motion.
Everything's amazing, 
it's also broken.

Guns folding 
encoding. 
In the time that's ending
see my soul imploding. 

The grounds are soaking 
in the potion, 
every drop 
you're drinking 
rising like the ocean.

That's OK. 

We will watch them celebrate
all the miscreant machines
flinging fire on parade. 

Watch and wait; read and rate. 
Your opinions calibrate. 
Within alabaster capital
humming silicon remains. 

Unfolding, encoding, 
exposing every secret coating. 

The painting's moving eyes
are roaming to the right,
exposing what your hands
are holding. 

That's OK. 

Scanners, Part One

Keir laid his glasses on the table.

He was tired of seeing the data. The burning streets were evidence enough. Everything still worked. He could connect to the network, the coffee bar was open. Some power outages.

Keir picked up his glasses and shut down the background data. From his window he could see the recent blast area being reconstructed identically to its pre-obliterated appearance. In the distance, previously dim city lights were illuminating.

Soon the disruption would be a memory and soon after that it would cease to exist.

Keir opened the window to the fire escape and climbed to the rooftop of the residential building in which he lived for the past 20 years. Each night, he performed this same ritual, bringing one quarter ounce of the material to the roof, an amount just below detectable levels. Expertise with the material is what allowed him small freedoms. Occupied, quiet, and content—a non-threat.

Despite new restrictions on movements, enough distractions remained to project a sense of normalcy. A person could select any number of enjoyable or semi-enjoyable consumption opportunities. Plenty of culinary variety—enough books, television and music. No drugs. You could still have a networked pet, but that didn’t interest Keir.

The material collection was near critical mass.

The time had passed almost too quickly. 20 years, one quarter ounce per day, nearing 170 pounds of material. Enough weight to change everything as long as they arrived according to plan.

Keir placed the material within the faux framework outlining the rooftop. The hidden receptacle had been there since recruitment and—in all certainty—contained blocking frequencies to jam the scanners.

“If not me, it would have been someone else.” Keir said to himself under his breath, as he did every time he slid back down the fire escape to his 5th story flat.

He climbed back through the window and slumped onto the couch.

“Let’s see what’s available this quarter.” He thought out load as he powered up the screen.

A new season of Deadly Sea Snail Wives of New Brunswick entered his top recommendations.

“I’m will miss their creations.”

Production Notes

This song originated in early June 2025. We have the good fortune of a place to stay in the mountains from time to time and my father-in-law’s acoustic guitar is always there and nearly always in tune.

This setting, away from home, at high elevation among natural beauty frequently results in a new song. Given the limitation of the equipment, it’s also a good place to focus on guitar-based song writing. This particular tune came during some down time while the kids watched television.

The placement of my fingers for the chord progressions seemed semi-unique, but then, when getting to recording, I realized this is an extremely straightforward composition. That does not mean it is bad, quite the opposite. If you can bring yourself to accept the simple solution or trick yourself to getting there, that is a decent path.

The rhythmic spurts may be more compelling than the chords, but I do think the chords work well enough to entice the melody. No bridge. I often have trouble with bridges cuz what’s the point 4real my guy?

I followed through with the song structure and lyrics on an acoustic guitar before getting to the recording, but that process created evolutions. For example, the lower register melody in the first vocal line was created after the original felt too cheesy. But, you can’t keep a mouse from its cheese, so I reverted most of the song back to the original melody.

Speaking of mice, there is a lovely 9 hole free semi-maintained golf course near the place we stay in the mountains. During certain times of the year it is unplayable, but it is great at the right time. This was one of the right times.

I’m no golfer, but there is a set of old clubs in the shed and it is an enjoyable, scenic outing. The course wasn’t too rugged, the weather was perfect and the mosquitoes had not yet swarmed. However, mice had made the worn golf bag in the shed their abode and one emerged in the middle of my second or third (probably fifth) shot to the fairway.

Cute critter. Big ears and long tail, certainly related to the Muad’Dib. It crawled up a driver—we set the bag down and urged it on its way.

I hoped that there were no other mice in the bag but those hopes were dashed when we realized another one had made its way into our car for the entire trip back. This one was detected while unpacking and only later removed after noticing the smell of decay. Robin did yeoman’s work in finding and removing it. RIP travelin’ golf bag mouse. My desire to golf (poorly) was surely not worth your life.

Back to the song. The lyrical composition was inspired by some thoughts and ideas for a different collaboration. The idea is around near-term post-apocalyptic sci-fi as a way to express real concerns, anger and frustration about the state of ye olde Earth. Hopefully this gets a revised version in another project. Time will tell.

Despite the fearful luddite themes, technology helped me greatly with the production of this recording. All of this was done on…wait for it…a COMPUTER. Yes, digital technologies. I even used software plug-ins branded as having AI! This includes a tape plug-in from Baby Audio and mastering software from LANDR.

Regardless, I played all of the instruments with my meat-based hands, fingers, legs, lungs and feet. This includes electric and acoustic guitar, acoustic drums, bass, analog synths and my own ‘lil voice. There are plenty of human imperfections on display.

Recording all of these elements in my limited set up is a challenge and I think I deserve some credit. I record drums using two microphones: a kick drum mic and a large diaphragm condenser. This took both some cut-ups and quantization to get to the drums where they ended up. The main challenge was the snare fills which originally were four hits, but changed to more like five when quantized. Regardless, they sounded better that way, IMO.

I’m a little sheepish about admitting to using automated mastering software, but it is a huge time saver and it seems to be getting better and better. I use it as a plug-in—processing creates a version, but then there are controls for aspects such as compression, saturation, EQ, etc.

I do this work on the margins and there are tools that make it possible. Don’t judge me.

All for now partners, I hope this song finds you on your merry way doing the best that you can. The only thing to do is to keep doin’.

This one marks thirty ditties in the kitty for this project (episode XXX)! Visit the archive and listen to them all.

yr pal,

RS