Tales  of  Frozen  Time

ABOUT THE ALBUM

​​An album inspired by ten classic works by the great master of words, Ray Bradbury - phenomenal human insight, poetry, and wisdom that took the shape of realist, not just fantasy and science fiction, stories. A master of writing, who often used sci-fi and fantasy settings to tell us something deeply human about ordinary people like us. Using "old-fashioned" composition resorting to the toolkit of musical story telling, here are ten tracks inspired by my favourite works. 

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1. There Will Come Soft Rains

An automated house, a smart home we might call it today, lives on without its inhabitants who died in a nuclear holocaust - until fire breaks out and the house dies… with just one speaker surviving among the rubble. A meditation on technology that outlives its creators... and on the definition of what is human. The story's meaning transcends and goes far above the specific setting that stems out of Cold War angst.

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2. The Lake (Innocence / Drowning / Reunion)

A ghost story only Ray Bradbury could imagine and write with such poetry. A childhood summer break, the building of sandcastles with a girl… who tragically drowns. Many years later, the sand castle built by the grown-up boy in memory of that summer is completed by someone… who left little footprints in the sand between it and the lake…

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3. The Golden Kite, The Silver Wind (War / Realization)

A sublime Cold War parable that is universally valid today, too, for too many senseless conflicts. Two towns competing with each other in their military might and defences come to the realisation that peaceful collaboration benefits both sides. Whilst it is written in a joyful, often funny manner, it is as hard-hitting as the best of Stanislaw Lem's caustic parables and fables. 

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4. The Messiah (Apparition / Exaltation / Sorrow) 

Below its surface it is a story about one's chasing of one's selfish desires and visions instead of focusing on the true values... and the selfless sacrifice one can make, no matter how much it aches. The story transcends specific (and any) religion - as usual, it is something universally human that Bradbury captures in a deceptively simple tale. 

A changeling Martian turns up in the priest’s little church on Mars and takes the shape of the Messiah. After the exaltation of his discovery, the priest agrees to free it from his thoughts that force it into that shape… as long as it returns at Easter each year…

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5. A Miracle Of Rare Device (Vision / Sceptic / Child) 

A poetic parable about imagination, soul, open mindedness… and the effect cynical sceptics have on others’ dreams and visions. The fascinating mirage seen by two men, made to disappear by a cynic, reappears when an innocent child stares into the distance.

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6. Fahrenheit 451 (City / Escape / Exile) 

The seminal dystopia about a society where books are banned and burned. The fireman’s awakening leads to his escaping from that world - and he finds a group of people living in exile where each person has memorized a book and passes it on orally from generation to generation.

The novel is not only about censorship and the role of art in our lives - it is about what makes us human and what dehumanizes us.

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7. On The Orient, North (Romance / Death / Together)

A ghost story again - one of utter poetry and humanism, once again... A fading ghost travels on the Orient Express, trying to get to Scotland eventually - where he hopes that people who have not given up on ghost stories will revitalise him. A nurse, who travels on the same train, falls in love with him - but she dies due to her heart problems when they reach England… The two ghosts in love travel onward to Scotland... 

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8. The Scythe (Lives / Cuts / Madness)

A farmer discovers that each blade of wheat he cuts with his scythe is a life that ends. He stops cutting them - but then nobody can die any more, not even those suffering. He descends into madness, realising that by inheriting the farm and running it, he took on the role of the Grim Reaper... and starts cutting again, relentlessly, the wheat.

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9. The Drummer Boy Of Shiloh

Before what has become a famous battle, the little drummer boy cannot sleep - and the general has a chat with him about his role, about the battle, and life… boosting the boy’s morale. A sublime tale about fear, sense of purpose, and the marks we leave behind in life. Bradbury finds the poetic and the humane in the most inhumane episodes of Mankind's history... this story is no exception. It is based on a real person, he was only 11 at the time of the (in)famous battle and, after a respectable military career, he had been laid to rest in the Arlington Cemetery. 

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10. Kaleidoscope (Scattered / Last Emotions / Earth) 

Astronauts get ejected into space after their ship explodes. They meditate about life and the imminent death… with one of them wishing to be able to do one last good deed, something only he would know about… before he, entering the atmosphere, is seen as a shooting star by a child.​

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​All tracks composed, arranged, performed, and engineered by Levente. All rights reserved.

Cover art design by Levente.

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Release: 1 Feb 2025.