Tomorrow's Harvest and The Dark Mountain Project

[eric_schafer]

suspe ed when re d he s ng es. w hed he v de f r "Re h f r he De d" nd fe jus f ed n m k ng he nne n. f er he r ng he pre-re e se s re m h ugh mp ss e deny. nd when re d he Gu rd n n erv ew fe h d een nf rmed. h s re ed n um fu y n ne w h he m f n rg n z n f wh h h ve n y re en y e me w re. hey hemse ves [ur =h p://d rk-m un n.ne ] he D rk M un n Pr je [/ur ], gr up hr n ng he ne r- erm des en f Wes ern v z n hr ugh he r w rks f r .

Pe p e w r dw de re w k ng up he f h he pp r un y me n ngfu y ddress m e h nge nd res ur e dep e n h s een s , s ym ed y us ness s usu nd refus h nge m re sus n e fes y es. he D rk M un n Pr je seeks d umen he em n re y f pse, here y f ng he gr ev ng pr ess sure mp ny he ss f v z n s we kn w .

Wh s un nny me s h w exp y he mus n he um ddresses he ssue. Emp y ng he r f rm d e s und des gn sk s n s ngs w h es ke " pse", "Seeds f he De d", nd "S k mes", seems e de ver ng n em n p s rd fr m he fu ure. W ven m ng he m n us 80s h rr r s und r k dr nes nd re en ess m n r-key rpegg ns re he s unds f he p ers, r d s s n qu e re e ved r mprehended, dys p n s n r p ngs, dus - w w nds rms.

's fu ure h d es n der ve fr m sudden s r phe, h wever. s s qu ed n he Gu rd n n erv ew, " 's n p s - p yp s mu h s s u n nev e s ge h es n fr n f us."

h s ge s pse.

he D rk M un n m n fes s es: "We e eve h r mus k ver he edge, f e he w r d h s m ng w h s e dy eye, nd r se he h enge f e de w h h enge f s wn: n r s resp nse he rum ng f he emp res f he m nd." u d m re p m ss n s emen f r h s um e ns ru ed?

[Aerial Boundaries]

I don't think they are necessarily even aware of this project, I think that this type of thinking is the product of troubled times and individuals who care about the state of humanity and the world.

I wake up everyday these days with the feeling that we are on the verge of a revolution in the way our society and life on earth operates. I wasn't aware of this artistic project until this thread.

This album is an anthem for a climactic and uncertain age.

[In_The_Annexe]

the album, without a shed of doubt, is about our world's current state. Tomorrow's Harvest is a concept album, which in turn makes it even more powerful.

I'm not so sure about this "Dark Mountain Project", but I am sure you've heard about the Bush administration, private bankers, Bilderberg, Illuminati and Masons.

These people are the richest in the world, meaning, they have more control over world affairs then us "consumers"

What I find funny is we get called "consumers", yet we are the ones giving them our tax dollars and long hours of work, while THEY consume.

Our world is paying for the consequences and so will we. Hopefully them as well. It would certainly be poetic.

[wwbjd]

I suspected it when I read the song titles. I watched the video for "Reach for the Dead" and felt justified in making the connection. After hearing the pre-release stream I thought it impossible to deny. And when I read the Guardian interview I felt it had been confirmed. BoC has created an album fully in line with the aim of an organization of which I have only recently become aware. They call themselves The Dark Mountain Project, a group chronicling the near-term descent of Western Civilization through their works of art.

New to me! Thanks for the link and info.

[mechanismj]

I suspected it when I read the song titles. I watched the video for "Reach for the Dead" and felt justified in making the connection. After hearing the pre-release stream I thought it impossible to deny. And when I read the Guardian interview I felt it had been confirmed. BoC has created an album fully in line with the aim of an organization of which I have only recently become aware. They call themselves The Dark Mountain Project, a group chronicling the near-term descent of Western Civilization through their works of art.

New to me! Thanks for the link and info.

Yeah, thank you!

[eric_schafer]

d(R)/r(R) > 1

[sleepysilverdoor]

AB, thanks for your response. I agree that more and more people are waking up to the predicament we face. I was caught off guard by the theme of this album, as I had just begun to consider what "Dark Mountain" music would sound like. TH fits many of the concepts like a hand in a glove.

Annexe, I'm definitely familiar with some of that crew. They seem to have accelerated some problematic approaches humans have taken.

wwbjd and mechanismj, the pleasure is mine. Check out some of the other writing on that site some time; Paul Kingsnorth has a voice in his writing that really speaks to where I'm at.

I've also been reading John Michael Greer's work for a historical and philosophical take on collapse. I enjoy reading Dmitry Orlov as well, not the least for his very dry Russian wit. I'd love to hear about others who are exploring the concept of collapse and how their ideas relate to the ideas in this album. "Why The West Rules – For Now: The Patterns Of History And What They Reveal About The Future", the book BoC mentions in the interview, is new to me. Recommendations, anyone?

A fellow twoism Collapsenik! YES! I have a Reinventing Collapse shirt I bought from him two summers ago that I wear all the time...you may remember it from his blog when he was selling them.

If you're into extreme cynicism, check out Jim Kunstler's Clusterfuck Nation. I got really tired of it after awhile because he sort of repeats himself...and he comes off as kind of an asshole. His book the long emergency is a great read though.

Have you read any stuff by Jared Diamond? Guns Germs and Steel is a great read, but personally I like Collapse a little bit better. It's a book that essentially does a side by side comparison of a number of past societies and attempts to pick out patterns common to all of their downfalls. Examples include the Anasazi, Easter Island/Rapa Nui, the Roman Empire, and a few others.

There's another website Resilience.org that is sort of a clearing house for post-civ, post-sustainability, and peak oil news. Great articles there.

Have you ever read the oil drum? It's a good one too. [/url]

[turquoise70]

Sometimes I feel utterly alienated from Twoism for not being convinced that this 'collapse' is going to be anywhere near as dramatic as people are predicting. Can there even be room for me here, intellectually, if I don't subscribe to that especially dark vision of the future?

[Opothecary]

Sometimes I feel utterly alienated from Twoism for not being convinced that this 'collapse' is going to be anywhere near as dramatic as people are predicting. Can there even be room for me here, intellectually, if I don't subscribe to that especially dark vision of the future?

I think it will happen, and be fairly awful, but it might not happen as soon as people think. It might be 20 years away rather than 5 or 10. People that get wrapped up with the gold standard and so on make me laugh, because paper money, gold, none of it will matter, it will be a totally different paradigm in the short-term, post collapse.

Not everyone can visualize it, especially millennials, because our society has evolved so much in such a short period of time, but so much of that evolution is based on the existence of easily available resources such as electricity, fuel, the internet in general, etc. You take one of those out of the mix and it's a very different world that most people aren't prepared for.

[sleepysilverdoor]

I'm more of a slow decline type of person. I do believe that we're in for a near permanent standard of living decline as the energy foundation of our society dwindles. However, I'm certainly at odds with the "near term extinction" camp that seems to be growing in numbers and volume. The future's not gloom and doom, but I wouldn't exactly call it cheery.

If you'd asked me two years ago I would have expected the human population to be at 1 billion by 2030 though. Ha. I supposed I've just gotten less bleak.

Edit: I second everything opothecary said.

[In_The_Annexe]

Boiled Frog Syndrome, ladies and gentleman.

[sleepysilverdoor]

Boiled Frog Syndrome, ladies and gentleman.

Who are you referring to?

[turquoise70]

Eh. Yeah. Not to derail the thread; obviously this thread got started based on some correlations that do exist between the whole idea of the Dark Mountain thingy and BoC's apparent future outlook.

I guess I just wanted to voice that a number of slow changes in the outlook of the average outspoken Twoismer have made me feel 'culturally estranged' from this place. Maybe I've changed. In fact I KNOW I've changed. I've gotten my life together and my neural problems under control in a way that I never had when I joined. My outlook on the future is actually really SUNNY nowadays. I think it's going to be pretty great. Civilization and all.

So... there ya go. I dunno, Twoism. It just feels like we're not looking at the same world anymore.

[The Friendly Stranger]

Eh. Yeah. Not to derail the thread; obviously this thread got started based on some correlations that do exist between the whole idea of the Dark Mountain thingy and BoC's apparent future outlook.

I guess I just wanted to voice that a number of slow changes in the outlook of the average outspoken Twoismer have made me feel 'culturally estranged' from this place. Maybe I've changed. In fact I KNOW I've changed. I've gotten my life together and my neural problems under control in a way that I never had when I joined. My outlook on the future is actually really SUNNY nowadays. I think it's going to be pretty great. Civilization and all.

So... there ya go. I dunno, Twoism. It just feels like we're not looking at the same world anymore.

Is this post basically you signing out? I don't think this massively bleak outlook is shared by the majority on this forum, or even by BOC to be honest, but I do think we have a tendency to look at the worst case scenario as an incentive to sort out our problems.

While I don't agree that things are looking great in terms of the long term future of the planet, I think it's a bit silly to suggest that human civilisation is going down the shitter any time soon. It does a great disservice to our intelligence and ingenuity as a species. There are solutions to all the problems the human race faces and while there will be bumps along the way, we will find those solutions. The unfortunate thing is that money speaks and these issues won't be solved until they become legitimate business interests.

[Amo Bishop Roden]

Boiled Frog Syndrome, ladies and gentleman.

Who are you referring to?

That would be that a frog thrown in a pot of boiling water will inevitably hop out, but if you put it in a pot of cool water and gradually bring it to a boil, he will cook without even noticing.

[turquoise70]

Is this post basically you signing out? I don't think this massively bleak outlook is shared by the majority on this forum, or even by BOC to be honest, but I do think we have a tendency to look at the worst case scenario as an incentive to sort out our problems.

Nah, I'm not signing out. Just sort of ...voicing myself, I guess? Venting? I dunno.


While I don't agree that things are looking great in terms of the long term future of the planet, I think it's a bit silly to suggest that human civilisation is going down the shitter any time soon. It does a great disservice to our intelligence and ingenuity as a species. There are solutions to all the problems the human race faces and while there will be bumps along the way, we will find those solutions. The unfortunate thing is that money speaks and these issues won't be solved until they become legitimate business interests.[/quote]

Fair enough. I would say all of that is probably true. So no disagreement there.

[The Friendly Stranger]

Nah, I'm not signing out. Just sort of ...voicing myself, I guess? Venting? I dunno.

Ah good. Would be a shame if you left. I think your presence has been missed around here lately.

Anyway, I think it's easy to take the themes of this album a little too much at face value really. It's bleak but it's art and it should make us think.

Going back to the original topic, it's a pretty cool find but I don't think BOC made the album with this in mind, it's just a coincidence.

[Snufkin]

I suspected it when I read the song titles. I watched the video for "Reach for the Dead" and felt justified in making the connection. After hearing the pre-release stream I thought it impossible to deny. And when I read the Guardian interview I felt it had been confirmed. BoC has created an album fully in line with the aim of an organization of which I have only recently become aware. They call themselves The Dark Mountain Project, a group chronicling the near-term descent of Western Civilization through their works of art.

People worldwide are waking up to the fact that the opportunity to meaningfully address climate change and resource depletion has been lost, stymied by business as usual and refusal to change to more sustainable lifestyles. The Dark Mountain Project seeks to document the emotional reality of collapse, thereby facilitating the grieving process sure to accompany the loss of civilization as we know it.

What is uncanny to me is how explicitly the music on the album addresses the issue. Employing their formidable sound design skills on songs with titles like "Collapse", "Seeds of the Dead", and "Sick Times", BoC seems to be delivering an emotional post card from the future. Woven among the ominous 80s horror soundtrack drones and relentless minor-key arpeggiations are the sounds of helicopters, broadcasts not quite received or comprehended, dystopian sonar pings, dust-bowl windstorms.

It's a future that does not derive from sudden catastrophe, however. As BoC is quoted in The Guardian interview, "It's not post-apocalyptic so much as it is about an inevitable stage that lies in front of us."

That stage is collapse.

The Dark Mountain manifesto states: "We believe that art must look over the edge, face the world that is coming with a steady eye, and rise to the challenge of ecocide with a challenge of its own: an artistic response to the crumbling of the empires of the mind." Could a more apt mission statement for this album be constructed?

Do you work for the Dark Mountain project? Honest answer, plz!

[eric_schafer]

[Sun Drugs]

Without blowing it all for the listeners, there’s a core to it about an apparently irreversible vector we’re already on as a species.
from the new interview

Whether or not they are directly associated with Dark Mountain, they share the same views i think