Philosophy gets a bad rap. Most of us hear that word and think of dusty books in old libraries, where professors clad in leather-elbowed blazers quibble over minutiae while the smell of English-blend tobacco hangs heavy in the air.
But I would offer that philosophy is perhaps the most practical of all pursuits. The word can be translated as “friendship with wisdom,” and it really just poses the question: What does it mean to live well? And if you want to encounter the most distilled, most visceral expressions of philosophy today, you won’t find them clad in academic robes. Instead, they are waiting for you in sci-fi movies, comic books, and — yes —rock and roll.
Tour de force
From the social philosophy of Bob Dylan to the deconstructionist musings of Tool, rock has a long and proud history of making philosophy personal, accessible, and immediate. Which is to say: rockers are listening because they, too, are asking what it means to live well.
Colombo’s prog rock outfit ‘Man Till God’ are no strangers to philosophical discourse in their music.
Their brand-new EP, ‘From Atoms to Galaxies’, is a musical and lyrical tour de force that delivers on its titular promise: an exploration — from the very smallest of things to the largest possible scales — of what we all share in common, of what it means to be human.
The lead-off single, ‘Cosmic Dancer’, is quite simply a delight. The song is infectious and subversive in the best possible ways. A catchy, anthemic chorus provides easy, comfortable entry to a question that predates written history: Can you hear the song of a universe alive Can you hear the song of a universe in sync. From the ancient teachings of Indigenous wisdom traditions to the most current research in quantum mechanics, there is no escaping the reality that we are all connected.
So, what would it mean to embrace this — and to have a home, a community, a universe that is truly in sync? What would your part in this process look like? What would mine? Across the EP, themes from Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Jewish, and Christian traditions present themselves, blended with a wide range of philosophical references.
All of this is undergirded by tremendous musicianship and outstanding engineering from producer Izzy Wildchild. The record concludes with the song ‘Through Samsara’, which features one of my favourite guitar solos in a very long time. (Rarely does a guitar solo feel like an essential element of a song. Here, it is the clear and necessary culmination of the musical and lyrical arc.)
Vocalist Vimukthi Karunaratne closes the EP with the following haunting lines: The pain of reincarnation Forgotten in the joy as we live another life to die another death one need not be a practitioner of Hinduism, Buddhism, or of any faith, to recognize the wisdom present in these words.
For so many of us, life can at times feel like an endless cycle of days. But to forget our burdens in moments of joy is surely a part of what it means to live well.
