Afterimages by James Cook Group

released July 1, 2019

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This is music written surrounding loss, and written to bring respite and catharsis while acknowledging the transience of circumstances many of us have come to take for granted, if only out of past experience. Human beings have evolved to survive on assumptions, and it is experiences which destroy such assumptions that can be the most cruelly illuminating.

In late 2018 I experienced the death of a close friend aged 22, and further losses which quickly followed in his wake. In many ways, this set of recordings is my coming to terms with the mortality of those closest to me.

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An afterimage is an image that continues to appear in one's vision after the exposure to the original image has ceased.

Desensitization of the retina can be important for survival. A constant stimulus is usually ignored in favor of a changing one by the brain, because a changing stimulus is usually more important. But desensitization also leads to afterimages. Afterimages are constantly with us.