Lights Out in Circle City

A twenty-five minute album in six parts, by Trigger Man

The music included on this release was written between November of 2009 and March of 2011. It was published on August 11th, 2012.

“Lights Out In Circle City” is the exposition of a story. It describes a domed police state whose inhabitants are convinced into thinking they lead comfortable lives. In their defense, they don’t know any better; any attempts at enlightenment or escape are thwarted by the law. Nonetheless, the hope for a better life still shines within some.

“A Charge Out in the Fusebox” introduces two central characters. The first is a petty outlaw who, due to his desire to escape Circle City, is under hot pursuit. The second has enjoyed a life of aristocracy, above the regulations that burden the rest of her neighbors. She knows the truth, but is conflicted by its incriminating nature in the minds of others. To her, life in the city is too grim, and she feels too powerless. Fearing her existence has lost its meaning, she sees the outlaw’s attempts at escape and decides to help him.

With her knowledge of Circle City's secrets, she uses a device called a fusebox to temporarily shut down the city’s power supply. This throws the docile city into chaos. With the police distracted, she leads the outlaw to the outside world. He falls in love.

Little did the outlaw know, he was hoping for passage into a forsaken desert. Immediately thrown into fear and confusion, he resents his rescuer for leading him to certain death. (He is also upset about getting shut down when he puts the moves on her.) She reminds him that a return to the city would lead to the same fate for both of them. She gave him what exactly what he wanted, he just had no idea what he was asking for.

On vinyl LPs, before the age of Google and Wikipedia, an album’s liner notes were the main source of information surrounding its release. They represented a gateway into the musicians’ minds; a peek into their world. They were akin to the program notes of classical tradition, not considered riff-raff.

Now that we have iPods, playlists, and digital streaming, owning a physical copy of a release is unimportant to most listeners. Delving deeper into the lyrics of any given album is difficult, and usually the journey ends on a painful, ad-ridden lyric site.

The digital release of Lights Out in Circle City seeks to distill the album to its elements: art, song, and lyric. We believe it is possible to use web technologies to showcase them in a substantial way.

We sincerely hope you enjoy this presentation.