Eyeball Planet by Mother Iguana

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EYEBALL PLANET is a song cycle exploring the mystical kingdom of sleep, floating up through the ceiling and into the beckoning glimmer of worlds beyond our own, reaching down to us through the long, black veil of the night sky.

This is not mind-quieting music to help you drift off... it’s more a diorama of insomnia, mapping out a bleary, wavering state of consciousness I've come to know well. The songs were built to reflect this headspace - melancholy lullabies charged with restless physicality, crystallized in rock candy smears of sonic ornamentation, buried under an obliterating psychic fog.

The album features 22 musicians working from 12 different countries between 5 different continents. All collaborated through remote overdubs, incrementally building their ideas into dense, largely improvised arrangements which I assembled, reshaped, and refined along the way.

Sleep connects us to the cyclical nature of existence - death, afterlife, and rebirth collapsed into one. It connects us all together, sharing the universal journey out of our bodies to wherever it is we go. I find it an endlessly compelling mystery of life… a mystery that looms larger the longer I stay awake.

Prolonged insomnia is a journey unto itself. Exhaustion floods the mind, bending time and distorting patterns of thought. Psychic debris spills over from the dream realm, slipping in and out of physical awareness. Senses dissolve into otherworldly murmuring, echoes from the ethereal unreality behind the curtain. I try to lie in peace, half-watching the light change outside the window with my eyes closed.

I can feel the insomnia prying open a door inside my head. This album is a sketch of the view through the doorway.

EYEBALL PLANET was recorded and assembled between late fall of 2020 and early spring of 2023. Please see below for an in-depth listing of instrumentation and personnel. My deepest thanks to everyone involved for their beautiful work on this project.

Thanks for listening, nighty night.

- Mac

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Tracklist

1.	It Must Be Always Night	4:08

2.	Into the Mouth of the Moon	5:11

3.	Lights Out	5:10

4.	Slumber Queen	4:35

5.	Insomnia Song	11:20

6.	Come to Bed	7:32

Credits

released May 15, 2023

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E Y E B A L L

P L A N E T

All songs written & produced by

MAC HOLMES

I T
M U S T
B E
A L W A Y S
N I G H T

Tom Andrade - bongo, alfaia, cymbals, udu, snare, triangle

Carina Bruwer - flutes

Carlos Carty - claps, stomps

Kelsie Collins - vocals

Rafael Freitas - bass

Maciej Mustafa Giżejewski - shaker, cajón

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, harmonica, claps, keyboards, drum machine

Ofer Peled - baritone saxophone

Alice Roberts - harp

I N T O
T H E
M O U T H
O F
T H E
M O O N

Tom Andrade - caxixi, shaker, udu, agogô, zabumba, cymbals, triangle, talking drum

Daniel Beachy - pedal steel

Kelsie Collins - vocals

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, synths, harmonica, claps, glockenspiel

Carolina Teruel - cello

L I G H T S
O U T

Tom Andrade - reco-reco, cymbals/stacks, guizo, udu, agogô, snare, shaker, seeds, triangle, chimes, bells

Jake Brendle - vocals

Jeremie Carrier - vibraphone

Carlos Carty - claps, stomps

Kelsie Collins - vocals

Betsy Heron - vocals

Scott Heron - vocals

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, tambourine, keyboards, claps

Devon Murphy - vocals

Ofer Peled - baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, flute

Maciej Sadowski - double bass

Carolina Teruel - cello

S L U M B E R
Q U E E N

Tom Andrade - carillon, alfaia, snare, cymbals, seeds, triangle, udu, shaker

Daniel Beachy - pedal steel

Carina Bruwer - flute

Joey Clark - vocals

Kelsie Collins - vocals

Nikos Giousef - soprano saw

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, harmonica, synths, drum machine

Ofer Peled - baritone saxophone

Alice Roberts - harp

Maciej Sadowski - double bass

Pim de Vente - piano, wurlitzer, hammond

I N S O M N I A
S O N G

Tom Andrade - bongo, snare, agogô, udu, cymbals, seeds, shaker, triangle, rain stick, talking drum, thunder drum

Jeremie Carrier - vibraphone

Rafael Freitas - bass

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, keyboards, synths, drum machine, tambourine

William Porter - saxophone

Alice Roberts - harp

C O M E
T O
B E D

Tom Andrade - bongo, cymbals, shaker, alfaia, seeds, bells, udu, thunder drum

Kelsie Collins - vocals

Keith Fane - piano

Maciej Mustafa Giżejewski - shaker, cajón

Mac Holmes - guitars, vocals, keyboards, tambourine

Ricky D. A. Roshell - flute, clarinet, alto saxophone

Maciej Sadowski - double bass

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All songs mixed by Mac Holmes

All songs mastered by Brian Coombes and Josh Kimball

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THANKS to Kelsie, my family, and everyone who kept asking me when this thing would be finished. Your support is supremely appreciated.

Infinite thanks to Larry Houghton for the help, generosity, and patience while Iending equipment to put this together.

Thanks as well to Drew Willard and Chris Decato for constructive technical input.

And thanks to all musicians who worked on this, especially those who contributed their time and talents free of charge.

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