THE BEAST

The sixth and final track from the 2021 album "Not Everybody Makes It" by Mark Solotroff. It’s been difficult to view the devastating wildfires on the West Coast, over the last several years, and to not be moved by the widespread damage that they cause. During my last trip to Los Angeles, a friend who lives there pointed out vast stretches of scorched landscape as we drove along the expressway in his car, not all that far from Downtown, where I was staying. I’ve also lived through a fire in a former home in Chicago. There’s nothing like being woken up very early on a Sunday morning by neighbors pounding on your door, only to realize that half of your building is in flames. The distinct smell remained with me for a long time. Fire is a frightening but fascinating thing to see and to hear and I appreciate how it becomes very abstract, as you focus deeper on the dancing flames. “Dancing,” what a poetic word we use! Inspired by the legacy of experimental filmmakers who have been based in Chicago, from László Moholy-Nagy to Stan Brakhage, and Owen Land (who was actually my cousin; a progressively distant one, as far as my family history goes) to Lisa Slodki (AKA Noise Crush, whose work was exhibited by the Museum of Contemporary Art and who collaborates with my bandmate Isidro Reyes and me, when we perform as The Fortieth Day), I created this abstract meditation on the destructive power of fire. (drone, dark ambient, ambient, synth, analog synth, synthesizer, analog synthesizer, industrial music, electronic music, experimental music, soundtrack)