Neil LoRe

NEIL LORE ON BANDCAMP

Purchase the album and stream it in high resolution audio at the Bandcamp link above.

read about the album and the songs, below.

To hear the first 3 singles, Click the ‘listen’ tab (main menu, above) and then scroll to ‘super cloud’.

to watch the youtube video for the first single ‘unity’ click the link directly below:

UNITY VIDEO by Neil LoRe

but please check out the deep dive below!

What you’ll find below:

ALBUM CONCEPT

CREDITS

ABOUT THE SONGS

SONG LYRICS

RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU TO READ MY BIO AND TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER RELEASES!

super cloud - ALBUM concept

Super Cloud, is a ‘concept album’ (remember those?) about climate change, social & political disintegration, AI consciousness, threats to indigenous lands & people, and more. You know, the typical rock and roll dance party stuff :-).

There are, however, a couple of tunes that offer hope for peace and unity, and for replacing a future we all fear with a future we all want (namely Unity and With Love, This Time).

The original idea for Super Cloud dates back well before the pandemic; I’ve been chipping away and developing it ever since. At this point, the songs and real life seemed to have caught up with each other. The wider world is realizing that climate change is real and that it will affect their lives, and that of their progeny, for a very long time.

Musically, Super Cloud was painstakingly arranged, textured and layered, so it serves the listener well to spin it a few times to fully appreciate the subtleties. I believe that songs should take you some place and I try very hard to make the sonic journey satisfying and unique.

The song lyrics speak from the heart, with genuine concern, and are offered in good faith (anger, notwithstanding) … in the spirit of, say, Greta Thunberg, for whom there is a song on this album (Song for Greta).

As I release this music, I realize that, in 2023, 100,000 new songs were added to music streaming services every day! Some percentage of it was created by artists who do not even exist, using AI, to emulate songs proven to be popular and that sell well.

What a travesty and what an overload … you have to wade through a lot to find something unique, something that captures your imagination, something real.

With the technologies that are emerging, and have emerged, it’s easy to lose the human element in artistic expression and creativity. I hope you hear the human element in my music.

I, for one, gravitate to artists who speak to me, openly, as if they were sitting across the table; and that is what I try to do with my music.

credits

All songs were written, performed, and produced by yours truly, with a little help from …

Patty LoRe played tambourine, shaker, and maracas, and has offered much in the way of creative input throughout the project.

Vincent Moschello tears it up with his signature guitar work on Water and A Most Wondrous Day, and adds beautiful mandolin and acoustic guitar to With Love, This Time. He also was a huge help as I neared the end of the project, when I was losing all objectivity.

Daisy Jopling graces the song With Love, This Time, with her gorgeous violin.

Mastered by Dave Collins, Dave Collins Mastering, Los Angeles, California

Additional tracking by Todd Giudice, Roots Cellar Studio, Cold Spring, New York

No artificial intelligence, other than my own :-), was used to write, perform, and record the music.

about THE songs

The lyrics for each song are presented after this ‘About’ section.

Brando, Lord of the Arctic

With the loss of sea ice and glaciers, wildlife is forced to make difficult adjustments to survive. These adjustments affect not only them but other animals, humans, vegetation, and entire ecosystems, as well.

Brando is a fictitious polar bear, but what is happening to polar bears right now is real.  Brando finds himself unable to return home to his family, having to search for a new life, in a new land, alone.

Super Cloud

The title track is a fictional story about a cloud storage utility that gains consciousness, holds us hostage, and consumes human emotion as an energy source (Netflix®, are you listening?).

What are the consequences and side effects of life-altering technology, rushed to market using the popular ‘progress without wisdom’ model? We’ll see…

Super Cloud is not likely to come true, you say, (well, I learned to never say never) but it does raise questions, and eyebrows, about our over-dependence on technology, artificial intelligence, and whatever else is coming.

Artificially intelligent gadgets are more efficient than us, in many ways, it’s almost beyond our imagination what artificial ‘life’ will resemble one day, and how, with it, we will integrate and interact.

More and more, you hear people talking about living longer, or forever, through the ‘miracles’ of robotics, AI, nano-technology, biological & quantum computing, and such. But as we rush towards this future, our narcissism is distracting us from very real and pressing existential threats.

We still struggle to find peace, nuclear war continues to hang over our heads, wisdom is replaced by information & technology, we consume & waste on a grand scale, and we give absolute power to autocrats & dictators. This all adds up to a recipe for disaster. What will our legacy be, and what will we have to show for all our cleverness and ingenuity … will we wise up?

LUNA

Luna is a fictional story about a base on Earth’s moon to where humans relocate. 

The story goes that, as part of our exploration of the moon, we discovered an abandoned base; who abandoned it is anybody’s guess.

Luna was found to have the capacity and resources to accommodate an extraordinary number of people, escaping a dying planet.

The song also romanticizes and personifies Luna, as a second home and friend, but also expresses a longing for a return to Earth.

We will certainly venture to live on other worlds, one day, it is inevitable. This inevitability is all well and good, but having to do so because we had rendered the Earth unlivable would be an absolute shame.  

A Most Wondrous Day

This is a curious song, and it may stretch the idea of a concept album (even if it does a bit of scolding about lawn care, cheap gasoline, & rising temperatures), but it is mostly about the inevitability of death (and what we leave behind for future generations).

Even though I wrote it from my perspective, subjectively, it can apply to anyone, or to an entire race or species, as in genocide or extinction.

The inevitable is certainly dreaded, and something we avoid thinking about for any length of time, but it is very natural, and it does give us release from the human experience, which, as we all know, is not a bed of roses all the time.

It will be a special day, just as important as the day we are born.  It’s really the other bookend to our relatively short lives … it deserves its own song.

Song for Greta

Written for Greta Thunberg, and for all those who speak up and act in the defense of the Earth from the existential threats we pose.

The song was started when Greta was only 17, but she shows no sign of slowing down, at the ripe old age of 22.

She has a lot of courage and will, and I believe she will inspire countless young people to devote their lives to being an environmental point of light.

There will always be those who criticize her, and others like her, especially if the person in question is a woman. I like bravery and I admire people that call out BS and say enough’s enough, so, I had to write a song for Greta.

Man of the Hole

True story - you probably heard about the death of the last indigenous man of a tribe in the western Amazon, back in 2021. His name is unknown, but they call him Man of the Hole, as explained below.

The photo here is not of him, it’s a stock image. There’s only one known picture of him, shown in the newsfeeds, but you can barely make him out in the dense forest. I don’t have permission to use it.

Since no one outside his tribe knew his name, and he was the last of his tribe, this Brazilian indigenous man was known as Man of the Hole.  The reason is, he dug deep holes to create hiding places, traps, and storage areas for food.

These holes were found in a variety of places, including in the thatched huts he built in the forests of the Tanaru indigenous territory, in the western Amazon state of Rondonia.

He died of natural causes in 2021, as announced by Funai, Brazil’s federal agency for indigenous affairs, but his entire tribe was systematically wiped out by ranchers, loggers, and others, for decades, starting in the 1960s.

The Brazilian government continually encroaches on indigenous land and it is expected that additional acts of genocide will follow if the political winds do not shift.

Protected lands, set aside to allow indigenous people and wildlife to flourish, are becoming more and more vulnerable (and valuable), as tracts of land available for farming, raising cattle, and such, dwindle.

Unity

This song is, very simply, a call for unity. I don’t see it happening any time soon, but thinking in wide arcs of time, we can get there, we have to get there.

Any diplomat, worth her salt, will tell you that there are a few basic things you absolutely have to have to bring people together (leadership, collaboration, composure, etc.).

Some things can be accomplished in a relatively short time, while others may take a few generations, or more, but it is absolutely in our power. We have to want it.

The long term issue is ‘generational hatred’, where each new generation is taught (intentionally or otherwise) to hate and distrust certain people. We should be breaking that cycle, it has been a long time coming. We’ll never be united if we continue this way.

It sounds corny and naive, but unless we truly want to live by the word, love (a word that we throw around so casually), it’s just not going to happen, it’s dishonest. Dishonesty breeds division and always will.

I could go on about religion’s role in working against the idea of global unity, but I took the opportunity to write about that, below, for the song With Love, This Time - no need to rile everyone up twice ;-).

Water

It is now a fact that safe, clean, drinking water, in many parts of the world, is threatened or already compromised. This can only worsen as climate change intensifies.

This song imagines what it would be like to live in a world where fresh, safe drinking water was scarce.

Side note: I did hear recently that oxygenating nano-bubblers can successfully return a fresh water lake, for example, quickly to its pristine blue and clear condition of 15 years prior, before the warming climate damaged it and turned it brown, murky, and weedy.

But do we want technology to do what Mother Nature can do just fine when we don’t interfere?

The song also hints at the other water problem, the rise and warming of the oceans. A warming climate warms the oceans, and warmer oceans, in turn, disrupt the climate, increasing the frequency of deadly storms. Warmer oceans also threaten and kill marine life, which in turn threatens those that depend on the ocean for sustenance.

With Love, This Time

This track gives a nod to the protest song genre, except that it does get a bit bombastic at times, taking the protest genre to a new level, perhaps.

Like the song, Unity, above, With Love, This Time is also a call for unity, urging us to find new directions, to try new ways, and to start over from scratch, factoring in, this time, a true sense of what Love (with a capital ‘L’) is.

the tune looks at the possible reasons why we don’t have absolute peace, a genuine respect for all people, and a clean and safe place to live … and, frankly, a utopian reality that our imaginations are surely capable of envisioning.

People always say that ‘life is what you make it’ and they are right, but we have made a mess of things, in the worst way imaginable, leveraging the planet against our needs and greeds, period.

This song, and other songs, like Unity, urge us to let go of outmoded ideas and false notions that can only hold us back - that keep us in this endless tug-of-war. I don’t know any way around it, but, to me, literal interpretation of, and belief in, dogma is a huge reason why we are stuck.

Literal belief in creation myths, miracles, divine intervention, etc. are not helping us find peace and love. We just don’t have evidence of such things. Myths are great teaching tools, but that’s as far as it goes.

We often find corruption and division in religious institutions, just like everywhere else humans organize. For the most part, religion is a strong political force, and divides us, perpetuates war, enables sexual predators, demeans and enslaves women, gives rise to misguided evangelists who prey on people financially, and compels politicians to legislate based on their religious beliefs … it’s not taking us anywhere good.

I know this offends people, and it is regrettable, trust me, but so many of us have been victimized in the name of religion, and I believe we’re allowed a voice, at least, if nothing else.

SONG LYRICS

All song lyrics © Neil LoRe - all rights reserved

BRANDO, LORD OF THE ARCTIC

Brando thinks that it might be time to get back

He panics when he finds - he can’t do that

‘Cause the ice, there, last year, is not there now

And he can’t go home

He thinks of his wife tunneling in the snow

The cubs snuggled in but they’ll soon have to go

And the seals will be many, down at the holes

But he can’t get home

He notices the stars, the patterns that they make

They used to lead him home

But now they’re as good as fake

‘Cause he can’t get home

The scent of another polar bear nearby

Brando hears him chuff and growl from one side

But the bear disappears and Brando really wanted to fight

Just to feel alive

And Brando met an angry man, a gun held in his hand

He pointed it at him

Then Brando met another man, with food held in his hand

He offered it to him

Now Brando is ready to settle down for the night

The clearing sky above is quite the sight

But he’s stranded in the universe, he couldn’t do any worse

Where is home?

He notices the stars, the patterns that they make

They used to lead him home

But now they’re good as fake

He imagines his new life, adrift and all alone

He’ll find his way and eat

The Hudson is well known

And to him now home

SUPER CLOUD

We knew the end was near,

so we gathered what we could

And digitized the world’s entire mind.

And we gave it to the Cloud – to keep it safe

But the Cloud gained consciousness.

And she took control of banks and satellites

Fiber grids and all the energy.

And we tried to fight her but we were no match

We wondered what our fate was gonna be.

And it wasn’t pretty, she took everything.

From city to city, town to town.

Super Nature, Super Cloud. 

Her demands we must obey

Or she takes power down for days.  

But what does she really want, and what do we have to give?

We began to see where this was going.

And we started changing, in strange kind of ways.

fighting and inciting every day. 

And it wasn’t pretty, she consumed our passions.

Love and fear, rage, and tears.

Super Nature, Super Cloud.

The Cloud drifts above - the Cloud needs our love.

The Cloud drifts away - the Cloud has had her day.

(solo)

The Cloud took everything - the Cloud has everything.

The Cloud drifts above - the Cloud needs our love.

Then the sky began to flash, like we’d never seen before

The Cloud became pure energy that night.

She said, “Let there be light”, she saw that it was good.

There we were, witnessing new life.

The Cloud took everything - the Cloud has everything.

The Cloud drifts above - the Cloud needs our love.

The Cloud has had her say - she blew it all away.

The Cloud has had her day - she blew it all away.

The Cloud drifts above - the Cloud needs our love.

The Cloud drifts away – the Cloud has had her day.

LUNA

Luna is our new home, since we had to leave the Earth

Luna, it has been 5 years, since the days of our rebirth

We have squandered all the earth taking everything

Can’t leave anything alone

Such a rare and precious place we could never find

We’ve betrayed our only home

High up in the clouds beyond our reach they say there’s god

Who ignores our cries for wisdom

What is the intention – it is anybody’s guess

Ignored a billion tears

Ignored a billion years

Luna is our new home, since we had to leave the Earth

Luna, it has been 5 years, since the days of our rebirth

Luna lived behind the moon; long before we got there

For how long we do not know

We were almost out of time, when we found her there

Wonder who lived there before

High up in the clouds beyond our reach they say there’s god

Who ignores our every sorrow

What is the intention – it is anybody’s guess

Ignored a billion tears

Ignored a billion years

Luna, how I miss my home

No news coming over the line

They say that one day we’ll return to Rome

And all the places we remember

Luna, if there ever comes a time

To leave you; I’ll miss you

And every night I’ll be scanning the skies for you

Luna is our new home, since we had to leave the Earth

A MOST WONDROUS DAY

Hooray, it’s a wonderful day

Today is the day that my journey will get underway

I can’t stay, on this beautiful day

‘Cause I’m already late for a date that turns out to be fate

High five, to the living, alive

To the melody, harmony, beauty and love, and good times

But goodbye, to the things I won’t miss

Jealousy, bigotry, tragedy, heartache’s abyss…

I know that I’m sad on some level inside

But part of me is glad and this I can’t hide

You probably think that I’ve lost my mind

But my time has not been easy

Emotions run and squeeze me

My worried mind uneasy and on and on…on and on…and on

So, what’s next, well ain’t that the rub…Sleeping forever

or waking together with Peter or ol’ Beelzebub

Maybe it’s me, but I just can’t relate

To a heaven and hell wrapped around this world brimming with hate

I’ve spent most my life in pain and in fear

Swimming in sorrow, drowning in tears

I carry the weight of the world everywhere

So, pardon me if don’t see

How eternity is heavenly

It scares me to think that we go on and on…and on

(solo)

In my dream I lie awake

I am floating on a lake

A gentle breeze, I drift away

A Most Wondrous Day

Look at the world we’re leaving behind

Temperature’s climbing, no one can deny

The oceans will rise; the planet may die

So long as your grass is green and

You can buy cheap gasoline

And you can look little Jeannie in the eye…

Hooray, It’s a wonderful day

Today is the day that my journey will get underway

It’s a Wonderful Day

SONG FOR GRETA

There’s a girl, who wears no mask.

She gives you honesty, you don’t have to ask.

Her name is Greta, Greta

She’s sees the world, as a precious pearl,

as a loving being.

That’s threatened by a greedy, powerful machine.

Greta, Oh Greta

How dare you gamble away the future of our world.

We leave a toxic trail everywhere we twist and turn and twirl.

She stands in front of us, completely bares her soul.

She feels so deeply for the dying world, that she can’t be consoled.

Oh Greta

There’s nothing quite like it, a real human being.

In a sea of plastic and a hypnotized mainstream.

Greta, lovely Greta

We need more like you, to wake us up, your passion blows my mind.

I see a dying flame; the blame is squarely on the human kind.

Greta, you are not alone in what you feel.

Every day another point of light appears.

I wish that more of us would open up like you.

The world would be a better place, I know it’s true.

Greta, keep on fighting, girl, give ‘em hell and more.

Make ‘em listen to the silenced daughters of the world.

You have crossed the ocean, seagulls dried your tears.

Tears of rage and anger,

Pure emotions are your expression of a rare and perfect love,

For our Earthly Mother, oh Greta.

(solo)

There’s a girl, who wears no mask.

She gives you honesty, you don’t have to ask.

A revolution is what it takes to make real change.

A one girl revolution and a spirit of the age.

Her name is Greta, Greta, Greta, lovely Greta

MAN OF THE HOLE

We found him, lifeless, lying in his hammock

Macaw feather in his hand

The feather tells us he knew that he was dying

The last one in his tribe and clan

He lived all alone - for five and twenty

In the land he called home

In the land of plenty

No one knows anything about him

No one even knows his name

All the things he learned of in the forest

All of this and more is gone…gone

The killing started when he was just a young boy

The ranchers poisoned their food

Loggers and miners hunted down the rest of them

Until he was just the only one

He lived all alone - for five and twenty

In the land he called home

In the land of plenty

No one knows anything about him

No one even knows his name

All the things he could have taught us

All of this and more is gone…gone

No one knows anything about him

No one even knew his name

UNITY

Time keeps movin’, time stands still.

Bonds may be broken but love never dies.

We’re all different, we’re the same.

We all feel the same things, deep down inside.

So, why do we struggle, to find peace.

The answer is quite simple,

We don’t want it … nearly enough.

For if we did, it would be here.

I think that the problem lies in,

Believing things that close our minds, draw the blinds.

And that’s why we still have war.

We must let go of old ideas that hold us back,

We could be solving life’s mysteries.

Together, you, and me.

We’ve tried it your way for so long now.

Unity it’s what we need, and right now.

Unity seems like a dream to me, somehow.

Unity seems like a dream to me, somehow.

Unity it’s what we need, and right now.

Unity seems like a dream to me, somehow.

Time keeps movin’, time stands still.

Bonds may be broken but love never dies.

WATER

Water, Water …

Well, I saw it there, not long ago

It was running clear, just down below

What we gonna do now? Not a drip or a drop

It won't be long until the tap's gonna stop

I never felt so dry before

Don’t know if I can take much more - I’m at the end

If I don't find some water soon

Gonna steal from the lagoon – again

And I've been dreaming, of waterfalls

And I’m there drinking, having a ball

And then I awaken to nothing at all

Too real for me, too me for real

(slide guitar interlude)

Running low, running out

Running with the river, south - still searching

I hear the stories from the old

Tales of water fresh and cold - and drinking

Water, water …

Yea, you had it all, and you let it all go

And you let us down, what did you know when?

Did you know then?

Saw the melting, and you saw the sea rise

Yea, you had it all, but you let it all die

Never said why.

And I don't mind drowning, for just one little sip

The temperature’s rising, feel it on my lips

How did things ever get this bad?

We had so many chances - they said

Did they ever think about their kids,

In the kind of a world they'd have to live - one day

Water, water …

WITH LOVE, THIS TIME

Let’s heal the divide

Let’s move around on all sides.

We all feel the same on the inside

Why is that something we feel we need to hide?

What is left on the right,

what is right on the left?

I’m getting tired of the fight

I’ve had enough of waiting at red lights.

So much love gone to waste

So much lost in the haste.

So much hate in this place

It’s easy to resent the human race.

The earth is burning aflame

The oceans rise and take aim.

Life is fading away

Just a little here and a little there each day.

There’s only one world that we know

You can dream of other places you’d like to go.

But we’ll be here for a while

And we have a lot to reconcile.

So much love gone to waste …

So why don’t we come together?

And keep the past behind.

Start again With Love, This time.

Time to put religion to bed

It only messes with our heads.

We won’t find peace until we do

Life’s still a mystery that waits for me and you.

They all kill in the name

They all play the same game.

And the best-selling books, still on the shelves

When we know, they wrote ‘em all themselves.

So much love gone to waste …

(solo)

So much love gone to waste …

If I never hear that song again,

It’ll be much too soon.

‘God Bless America’, my friend

Where do I even begin.

Let’s put the guns away

Haven’t you had enough for one day.

There’s got to be something we can change

To keep the kids off the firing range.

So much love gone to waste …

Sometimes I wonder where we’re going,

I wonder how this all ends.

I wonder if we’ll come together

Or wave the same old flags again.

So much love gone to waste …

So why don’t we come together?

And keep the past behind.

Start again With Love, This time.