The Circle of Wonders - New Concept Album Released!

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Hi everyone! I posted about this over in the "Musicians" thread, but figured I'd post here as well for those of you who aren't musicians and who might not ever go into those threads.

My latest concept album released on Christmas and I thought I’d share in case anyone was interested in giving it a listen. I wrote, produced, arranged, played, and mixed everything myself, so I appreciate any interaction, even if it’s just a follow or playlist add. Also, I’m planning on posting on the project’s Instagram page more frequently so a follow on there would be appreciated - @thecircleofwonders.

The story for this album is about a man investigating a serial killer (dubbed “The Architect” by the media) who has returned to terrorize a town after a 5 year hiatus from killing. Our protagonist is a huge, ogre looking man (one of those books that everyone judges by its cover) who wouldn’t hurt a fly but is constantly villainized by society due to his appearance. His only friend in the world, a hobo named Itchy Foot, is murdered in the park he sleeps in. This, along with an incompetent police investigation, motivates our main character, The Sparrow (a nickname given to him by his murdered friend, inspired by the way he would feed the sparrows in the park daily) to take it upon himself to get to the bottom of this serial killer mystery. Turns out these two title characters are more closely connected than The Sparrow could have ever imagined.

I started writing a novelized version of the story, but honestly I don’t know if that’ll ever get finished since my priority is making music, and I also have other manuscripts in the works. Started too many projects during Covid so I’m having to step back and make a priority list haha.

I posted this in the r/progmetal subreddit and everyone who has listened over there has been really excited and complimentary about it, so that feels really good.


The Dream Theater fan community is really a home to me, so I really hope you all enjoy!



(FFO - Dream Theater, Haken, Coheed & Cambria, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Alter Bridge, The Dear Hunter, Thank You Scientist, Twelve Foot Ninja, and more...)

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3n2qQY59OdPK4O40gBYfn9?si=rQIIMYJTSvq9wJ6_SA1iHw

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/iii-the-sparrow-the-architect/1722326193

Bandcamp: https://thecircleofwonders.bandcamp.com/album/iii-the-sparrow-the-architect

[chknptpie]

Just hit play on track one, always looking for new music.

[TAC]

Cody, this was amazing. Seriously. Congratulations. Phenomenal piece of work. Just sat through the entire thing.

I listened on Spotify, and as the it went on, probably around Framed, I really wished that I had the lyrics to follow the plot, and then I checked on Bandcamp and they were there.
I generally don't check out a ton of what a lot of you DTF musicians post, but I thought I'd check this out, and I'm glad I did.

After one listen where I didn't keep notes, off the top of my head...
The production is really good. Love the fact that I can hear the bass.
The vocals are excellent. Nice job. Way better than I was expecting. Really strong throughout.
Memory Of Mother is a phenomenal track. "My memory of mother is slowing my fall
But I can't remember it all".......what a great line!
Love the guitar solo outro on Potter's Field.
I think I lost exactly what was happening in the second half and who each of the characters are. I think Mama Sparrow in I Call Shotgun is a clue that they could be the same person. But the Detective (in the closet) got me thinking that HE was The Architect. He mentions something about the circus, and then in the Bandcamp lyrics for the last song, it seems like a peek into the next chapter.


It's the first album on my 2024 list.

[DTwwbwMP]

 

[hefdaddy42]

I will try to listen to this later today.

[emtee]

Marked for headphones tonight.

[chknptpie]

Framed and Apartment C3 were definite highlights for me!

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Any plans to put this on Tidal as well?

[jingle.boy]

Well shit... guess I know what I'm loading up next.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Wow, thank you so much everyone. I’m really happy that those who have listened have enjoyed it so much. It’s so difficult to get anyone to listen due to their skepticism, which is TOTALLY understandable. So I’m overwhelmed by the amount of people who have listened to it in its 82 minute entirety.

Any plans to put this on Tidal as well?

Yes, it’s actually been delivered to Tidal already, but I don’t know what their timeline is for how quickly music becomes available after delivery on there. 

[TAC]

Wow, thank you so much everyone. I’m really happy that those who have listened have enjoyed it so much. It’s so difficult to get anyone to listen due to their skepticism, which is TOTALLY understandable. So I’m overwhelmed by the amount of people who have listened to it in its 82 minute entirety.

You got me on my day off, my wife had just gone to work, and so I turned my computer on over a cup of coffee. I was intrigued by the plot, as I'm glad you included it in your OP. I wasn't planning on taking the whole thing in, but by the time I was done with Memory Of Mother, I knew I was stuck listening to the whole thing.!

[jingle.boy]

I'll be honest, I clicked the link last night and then saw it was a 2hr album, and decided 'pass' - I've already buried myself in 2023 releases, and wanted to spend a bit of time with what I had purchased/saved.  Then I saw the good press from TAC and Tricia, so I decided I should tap this.  Glad I did.  I wasn't quite feeling the first half, but the second half was bitchin.

Can't wait to see how the second spin turns out.

[hefdaddy42]

Oh wow, this was really good!  Not sure what I was expecting, but it was fantastic!

[twosuitsluke]

I'm always gonna go into this sort of thing with an open mind. I'll give this a spin tomorrow and come back to you. I'll be looking for the parts that appeal to Coheed fans

[jingle.boy]

I'm always gonna go into this sort of thing with an open mind. I'll give this a spin tomorrow and come back to you. I'll be looking for the parts that appeal to Coheed fans

Fortunately, beyond being a concept album, there weren't many!   

jk... it's not like I would really know.

[Jamesman42]

I chose a song at random, listened to Memory of Mother. Great voice, nice dynamics between the acoustic and rocking parts. Sounds great!

[twosuitsluke]

I'm always gonna go into this sort of thing with an open mind. I'll give this a spin tomorrow and come back to you. I'll be looking for the parts that appeal to Coheed fans

Fortunately, beyond being a concept album, there weren't many!   

jk... it's not like I would really know.

I'll assume the bits you liked least were the Coheed bits

[wolfking]

Listening through it now, it's really really nice man, you have a great distinctive voice.  I do like the heavier parts more, but that's just me.  Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?  Some of the softer more modern sounding bits sound like they could be modern day hits too.  Definitely gets more going in the second half so very well constructed.

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

[twosuitsluke]

This is really impressive dude, and I'll certainly come back to it. I can definitely hear Fair to Midland in some of the vocals

[TAC]

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.

Definitely!

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?

Interestingly, I haven’t really listened to much POS and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Voyager, but I’ll certainly give both a thorough listen!

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

Yeah man, I played/programmed every instrument with the exception of the couple of saxophone parts in two of the interludes, which were done by Jason Keene on a Lekholm DM48X, which is a digital harmonica. He fuckin rips. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to convert our two car garage into a studio. It’s far from a top of the line professional recording studio, but it absolutely works for my needs.


Thank you and everyone in this thread for listening. As I’ve said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I can’t even believe anyone listened, let alone liked it as much as they’ve said in comments.  Thank you so much.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Any plans to put this on Tidal as well?

Yes, it’s actually been delivered to Tidal already, but I don’t know what their timeline is for how quickly music becomes available after delivery on there. 

Oh cool. When I checked yesterday it didn't show up, but it's there now! I'll be spinning this tonight.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Oh and I just noticed you have 2 other albums on Tidal as well. I'll check those out later too.

[wolfking]

Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?

Interestingly, I haven’t really listened to much POS and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Voyager, but I’ll certainly give both a thorough listen!

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

Yeah man, I played/programmed every instrument with the exception of the couple of saxophone parts in two of the interludes, which were done by Jason Keene on a Lekholm DM48X, which is a digital harmonica. He fuckin rips. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to convert our two car garage into a studio. It’s far from a top of the line professional recording studio, but it absolutely works for my needs.


Thank you and everyone in this thread for listening. As I’ve said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I can’t even believe anyone listened, let alone liked it as much as they’ve said in comments.  Thank you so much.

Nice man, the studio certainly does the job listening to it.

On the next album, if you need someone to accompany you with some Judss Priest trade off solos on a track, drop me a line. 

[WilliamMunny]

Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?

Interestingly, I haven’t really listened to much POS and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Voyager, but I’ll certainly give both a thorough listen!

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

Yeah man, I played/programmed every instrument with the exception of the couple of saxophone parts in two of the interludes, which were done by Jason Keene on a Lekholm DM48X, which is a digital harmonica. He fuckin rips. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to convert our two car garage into a studio. It’s far from a top of the line professional recording studio, but it absolutely works for my needs.


Thank you and everyone in this thread for listening. As I’ve said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I can’t even believe anyone listened, let alone liked it as much as they’ve said in comments.  Thank you so much.

Nice man, the studio certainly does the job listening to it.

On the next album, if you need someone to accompany you with some Judss Priest trade off solos on a track, drop me a line. 

I was going to make the same offer! (though, I'm more of a discount-JP clone  )

[King Postwhore]

 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?

Interestingly, I haven’t really listened to much POS and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Voyager, but I’ll certainly give both a thorough listen!

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

Yeah man, I played/programmed every instrument with the exception of the couple of saxophone parts in two of the interludes, which were done by Jason Keene on a Lekholm DM48X, which is a digital harmonica. He fuckin rips. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to convert our two car garage into a studio. It’s far from a top of the line professional recording studio, but it absolutely works for my needs.


Thank you and everyone in this thread for listening. As I’ve said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I can’t even believe anyone listened, let alone liked it as much as they’ve said in comments.  Thank you so much.

Nice man, the studio certainly does the job listening to it.

On the next album, if you need someone to accompany you with some Judss Priest trade off solos on a track, drop me a line. 

I was going to make the same offer! (though, I'm more of a discount-JP clone  )

How discounted are we talking here? 

[wolfking]

Your FFO list is pretty bang on but I hear a lot of Pain of Salvation too, even some Voyager?

Interestingly, I haven’t really listened to much POS and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Voyager, but I’ll certainly give both a thorough listen!

This is all you, every instrument?  This must have taken some time to produce.  You did all this at home, have a studio?  I envy those that have the patience and creativity to produce pieces of art like this, kudos man. 

Edit:  Fucking class solo on the closer.  Actually the whole song itself is epic!!

Yeah man, I played/programmed every instrument with the exception of the couple of saxophone parts in two of the interludes, which were done by Jason Keene on a Lekholm DM48X, which is a digital harmonica. He fuckin rips. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to convert our two car garage into a studio. It’s far from a top of the line professional recording studio, but it absolutely works for my needs.


Thank you and everyone in this thread for listening. As I’ve said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and I can’t even believe anyone listened, let alone liked it as much as they’ve said in comments.  Thank you so much.

Nice man, the studio certainly does the job listening to it.

On the next album, if you need someone to accompany you with some Judss Priest trade off solos on a track, drop me a line. 

I was going to make the same offer! (though, I'm more of a discount-JP clone  )

Alright, lets go an Iron Maiden style trade off then!

[TAC]

I listened to this again in its entirety this morning at work. I was at my workstation so I got a good listen in. Really impressive work.
Still trying to nail down the plot twists in the second half..

[nick_z]

This sounds super-intriguing, and I'll queue it up. A few busy days ahead, so I won't really have the time to listen, but I'm excited to dig in when I can!

[hefdaddy42]

Currently circling back to the first album in the series.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Currently circling back to the first album in the series.

The first album in the series is actually completely instrumental fyi, as I wasn't confident in my vocal mixing abilities at that time.  So I made it more of a solo guitar album, like Steve Vai or Satriani, except with much less shred. That album is still fun though - I thought it would be cool to include some melodies/riffs from that album into subsequent albums as a fun nod/easter egg, so I did that once or twice with "II". I'm considering remixing "II" since I feel like my mixing capabilities have come a long way since I did that album - I remixed "I" a couple of years ago, and I've come a long way since even then!

[wolfking]

Currently circling back to the first album in the series.

The first album in the series is actually completely instrumental fyi, as I wasn't confident in my vocal mixing abilities at that time.  So I made it more of a solo guitar album, like Steve Vai or Satriani, except with much less shred. That album is still fun though - I thought it would be cool to include some melodies/riffs from that album into subsequent albums as a fun nod/easter egg, so I did that once or twice with "II". I'm considering remixing "II" since I feel like my mixing capabilities have come a long way since I did that album - I remixed "I" a couple of years ago, and I've come a long way since even then!

Might have to have a listen to that one too!

[jingle.boy]

Currently circling back to the first album in the series.

Oh, well fuck me.  Spotify only listed the singles when you click on your band, so I assumed for some reason I and II weren't there.  Well, there goes my morning tomorrow!

[hefdaddy42]

Currently circling back to the first album in the series.

The first album in the series is actually completely instrumental fyi, as I wasn't confident in my vocal mixing abilities at that time.  So I made it more of a solo guitar album, like Steve Vai or Satriani, except with much less shred. That album is still fun though - I thought it would be cool to include some melodies/riffs from that album into subsequent albums as a fun nod/easter egg, so I did that once or twice with "II". I'm considering remixing "II" since I feel like my mixing capabilities have come a long way since I did that album - I remixed "I" a couple of years ago, and I've come a long way since even then!

Dude, I really liked it as well.  I liked that it was different than III, as much as I enjoyed III, but the instrumental thing was great as well.