M10 - The Pillars of Creation
neo classical art rock, 80 BPM, A major, soprano lead vocal, string quartet, sparse piano, celesta accents, bowed vibraphone, glockenspiel sparkle, harmonium drone, 4AD production, plate reverb, tape saturation, dry close mics, shimmering string wash, layered vocal harmonies, light percussion, delicate dynamics, cosmic awe
M10 - The Pillars of Creation
neo classical art rock, 80 BPM, A major, soprano lead vocal, string quartet, sparse piano, celesta accents, bowed vibraphone, glockenspiel sparkle, harmonium drone, 4AD production, plate reverb, tape saturation, dry close mics, shimmering string wash, layered vocal harmonies, light percussion, delicate dynamics, cosmic awe
Lyrics
Intro — string quartet alone, piano enters gently
Verse 1 — soprano, crystalline, intimate
They launched it with a flaw we couldn't see
Two-point-two micrometer destiny
Three years of blurred vision, foggy and wrong
Before the Shuttle carried back the correction along
Chorus — layered vocal harmonics, strings swell
Pillars of Creation ten thousand light-years tall
A hydrogen nebula building stars for all
The Deep Field showed us three thousand galaxies
In ten square arc-minutes of empty night
We thought the sky was empty
Hubble showed us light
We thought the sky was empty
It was full of light
Verse 2
Edwin Hubble showed us galaxies in twenty-four
A hundred years before the telescope that bears his name
Story Musgrave walked the mirror in December ninety three
And handed us the universe back again
Chorus
Pillars of Creation ten thousand light-years tall
A hydrogen nebula building stars for all
The Deep Field showed us three thousand galaxies
In ten square arc-minutes of empty night
We thought the sky was empty
Hubble showed us light
We thought the sky was empty
It was full of light
Bridge — piano alone, soprano near-spoken
Thirteen point eight billion years
The universe has been expanding
Accelerating into dark energy
We learned this from a telescope
That was born broken
And healed by human hands
In orbit
Final Section — full soprano and strings
One and a half million observations
Twenty-one thousand papers
Every image a letter from the beginning of time
Outro — strings fade, single piano note, silence