1. "Tacit Blue"

being a top-secret aircraft is remarkably similar to being an independent musician... (Lyrics)

"Tacit Blue was one of the very first stealth aircraft, and there was only one prototype built. I imagined the plane must have been awfully lonely, and uncomfortable with the fact that she couldn't be seen on radar. She wants to be found."

7. "Davenport"

take refuge in a California coastal town...(Lyrics)

"Davenport is a small town of 200 on California's Central Coast. It has a beautiful, quiet beach. I hesitate to mention it on the web site, for fear of it getting more crowded!"

2. "Three-Quarters (Nubanusit and Contoocook)"

new england rivers meet and greet...(Lyrics)

"I took a masterclass from Robert Dick in Peterborough, New Hampshire and got inspired by the two rivers, Nubanusit and Contoocook, that have their confluence there. I imagined the two river deities meeting, and one trying to seduce the other."

8."Synaesthesia"

it's like playing Russian Roulette with your soul, sometimes...(Lyrics)

"This song is about being in love with someone who is damaged beyond any repair, and extremely dangerous besides."

3. "Romp Yello"

a transcendent morning in suburbia...(Lyrics)

"While her lover is asleep, the main character of this song has a spiritual awakening looking at her front yard glittering in the sunshine after rain."

9."Cellular Hill"

three chords and the truth about modern communications...(Lyrics)

"This song was originally going to be a very happy song about new love, but you can hear in the middle of it how the situation suddenly went very bad."

4. "3 Visions"

she often has visions, and here are three she'd like to share with you...(Lyrics)

"'Fever' is a poem I wrote one day while sick with a fever. 'Sugar Skulls' is about that custom on the Day of the Dead, where a sugar skull represents you as you will be among the dead one day. 'East Cliff Drive' is a street in Santa Cruz where I stood contemplating the beauty of the town after being interviewed on their local NPR station."

10. "Go Home"

the more things change, the more they stay the same...(Lyrics)

"The Irish traditional tune at the beginning of the track, 'Teidhir Abhaile Riu', translates to 'go home' in English. It's about an arranged marriage and how the bride has no say in it. The modern character in the spoken word section wrestles with turning down a marriage proposal that her whole family expects her to accept."

5. "Relativity"

the philosophers of old grapple with modern science...(Lyrics)

"I was inspired to write this tune after seeing an episode of Connections where James Burke laid out the historical progression towards the theory of relativity. I wrote from the point of view of a philosopher of late antiquity appealing to the gods for understanding of this newfangled concept."

11. "John Mockingbird"

who is that man in black? (Lyrics)

"John Mockingbird is my nickname for my shadow self. A few years back, I was startled to meet him in human form. This is the song I wrote about the experience."

6. "Stark Weather"

am I his victim, or his accomplice? (Lyrics)

"I wrote this song at a time when I was feeling trapped and powerless. I was reminded of the murderer Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate -- of whom nobody can be sure to this day if she was a hostage, or a participant, in his killing spree."

12. "Plaquemine Brulée"

a bayou spirit can't believe her luck...(Lyrics)

"This poem tells the story of a local deity who is offered a human sacrifice -- and it's a man she knows from the local community."