Surface | Essence by After Nations

All songs written and produced by Andrew Elliott

After Nations is:

Andrew Elliott - Guitar
Dustin Svoboda - Guitar
Ben Chipman - Bass
Travis Baker - Drums


This album is a meditation on self-awareness and interconnectivity.

At its core, it embodies the practice of attunement – both to oneself and the surrounding world. These songs reflect this interplay of connection, where inner awareness transforms into an external expression, and the boundary between the two dissolves as the feedback loop between them emerges as a unifying process.

‘Surface | Essence’ is a way of naming this interconnected process – a process of creation, awareness, sense-making, sharing, and reflection. It is a singular, interrelated idea, that cannot be grasped by viewing or holding either of these forms separately. Each reflects deep truths of the other. Both are reflections of an even deeper, unifying truth.

In that, this album is an attempt to describe something that is immensely beautiful, inspiring, and grounding to me – something that evidences that this music is as much a reflection of me and the world around me, as I – and everything else – are a reflection of it. It is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things, and the vibrancy of the present as the embodiment of existence.

It is also my hope that this reminder, both symbolic and real, inspires movement towards justice, equity, and peace. The world remains in turmoil: multinational corporate interests, weapons contractors, and those with great, stolen power exact unfathomable violence onto the world through the illusion of separateness. Such violence targets working class people – and all others enslaved by capital – through exploitation, genocide, fascism, war, displacement, enclosure, propaganda, and artificial scarcity.

I cannot write and share an album about the interconnectedness, awareness, and interdependency of all things, without naming the suffering that has emerged alongside the creation of this album. This is but one more voice calling for universal liberation – particularly for the people of Palestine, Congo, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Chiapas, the Rohingya, the Kurds, the Houthis, and all other people suffering under the violence of patriarchal capitalist imperialism. May it inspire others towards awareness, solidarity, and action.

Inspired by: How We Live Is How We Die (Pema Chödrön), Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer), Psyche Unbound: Essays in Honor of Stanislav Grof, Surfaces and Essences (Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander), In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love (Joy James), Understanding Power (Noam Chomsky), The Divide (Jason Hickel), Meshuggah, Explosions in the Sky, PJEV, and the courageous, curious, and compassionate people I've been gifted to meet and share life with.

~ Andrew


After Nations has grown into a large extended family comprised of dedicated, creative, and loving people. They have all contributed their time, energy, and talents to nurturing and growing this project over the years, and breathed life into the music. They are:

Andrew Elliott
Tyler X-Bears Mehaffey
Trent Utley
Alexander Thomas
Travis Baker
Zack Krishtalka
Dave Sandoval
Matt Bosak
Dustin Svoboda
Ben Chipman

Explosive
~ ~ ~
Meditative
~ ~ ~
Expansive

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