An empty vessel

Written and produced by Noah Rosa
Digital sculptures by Jules Galbraith
Cover and design by Jesse Osborne-Lanthier

Ngô Tra My - Đàn Bầu
Nguyễn Hai An - Sáo Truc, Sáo Meo, Sáo Bầu, Tiêu
Ngô Thái Sơn - Đàn nhị
Vu Thi Thủy Linh - Voice and Phách
Pham Dinh Hoang - Đàn đáy
My Chin - Đàn tranh
Le Quỳnh Trang - Percussion
Noah Rosa - Field Recordings, Processing, Synthesizers, and Guitar

This project is funded in part by FACTOR, the Government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters
Ce projet est financé en partie par FACTOR, le gouvernement du Canada et les radiodiffuseurs privés du Canada.

The environment is groundless, with pale, bright, slate-blue mist gently shrouding the objects in the scene. Three circling rings are formed of thick, knobbed tree branches, covered in bark mottled brown, purple, white, and black. The rings surround a transparent egg, beaded with pale, translucent green slime. Inside the egg lies a curled form, mossy green and grey, with soft spikes, appearing larval or lizard-like. A similar slime nets itself around the branches. Around the ring, large shattered fragments of glass or ice hang in the air, in an explosive arrangement. A blue, metallic structure punctures the trunks, resembling a strange, bare frame. Around the ice and wood stand three stone dragons, facing outwards at equilateral points. Their expressions are impassive, with flared nostrils and effusive whiskers and manes. They are covered in the same shade of mossy green as the being in the egg.