Hyperion
Image created using Stable Diffusion.
Hyperion, the song I wrote for the LADS Shiba Sequoia Forest Restoration Project.
The project is part NFT collection, part music festival, where the NFTs in the collection are both collectibles and your ticket to ShibaFest, which is September 1st and 2nd, 2023 in Muskegon, MI.
The project’s goal is to help restore the gigantic sequoia redwood trees. There are multiple musicians participating in both the project and the music festival, including me. After saying yes to the project, I dove into researching what I could on the sequoia redwoods in order to write the song.
Here’s what I found out.
ABOUT HYPERION
“Hyperion, the sacred one.”
Hyperion is the name of the tallest living gigantic sequoia redwood tree. The word Hyperion means he who walks on high or the god above. In Greek mythology, Hyperion is one of the twelve Titans of Earth and Sky.
The song is written from the perspective of Hyperion the tree.
“I soak up what I can,
tears of rain falling.”
The leaves of sequoia redwood trees have a unique ability to grab the moisture in the air and condense it, which they then rain down on the soil near them. They can also do the reverse — take water, condense it into water vapor, and disperse into the air around them, helping purify the air for themselves as well as ecosystems near them.
“My roots are shallow.
Entwined with you, we are grounded.”
Despite their size and height, sequoia redwood trees have a shallow root system, usually around 6 to 12 feet deep. However, their roots can reach out to around 100 feet in any direction. They intertwine with other redwoods, which is how they keep each other grounded secure from falling over.
“Dance with me
in fairy rings.
Come and drink,
and grow tall.”
Sequoia redwoods trees don’t only spawn from seedlings. They also spawn from their intertwined root system. When this happens, they often grow in circles known as fairy rings or family circles. If you spot a cluster of them in a circle, this is likely why. I liked the fairy rings verbiage and imagery, so you hear references to it in the song.
“All who dwell in me,
understory to canopy.
Dance with me
in fairy rings.
Hide and seek,
sheltered in my cloak.”
There are animals that live their entire lives in the canopy of one sequoia redwood tree.
“Once upon a moon long ago,
as far as I could feel, we were here.
There is much to rebuild.”
In the late 1800s / early 1900s, there were massive fires in various cities, including San Francisco and Chicago. Sequoia redwood trees are naturally fire resistant, and people noticed the buildings/houses that faired the best in the fires were made from redwood. This spawned a lumber boom, resulting in a large amount of the sequoia redwood trees being cut down in nearby cities and states. Now there is only 5% of old growth remaining, which is what makes planting new sequoia redwood trees so important, even if we don’t see the results of their benefits to the environment for thousands of years.
Sources Used When Researching: Wikipedia, Sempervirens Fund.
OTHER INTERESTING NOTES
The nature sounds you hear in the song are recordings I took at a popular local nature center.
There is a snare-like percussion sound with an echo that pans from left to right every few beats in the song. This is a recording of me stepping on leaves at the nature center. I was able to use it as a percussive sound after modifying its pitch and EQ, along with adding a delay/echo to it.
The effects used on my voice in the song are inspired by Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings.
LYRICS
“Hyperion”
Music & Lyrics by Mike Bass
Copyright ©2023. All Rights Reserved.
I soak up what I can,
tears of rain falling.
My roots are shallow.
Entwined with you, we are grounded.
Dance with me
in fairy rings.
Come and drink,
and grow tall.
Hyperion,
the sacred one.
All who dwell in me,
understory to canopy.
Dance with me,
in fairy rings.
Hide and seek,
sheltered in my cloak.
Hyperion,
the sacred…
Once upon a moon long ago,
as far as I could feel, we were here.
There is much to rebuild.
Dance with me
in fairy rings.
Come and drink,
and grow tall.
Oh, under the Sun.
Hyperion,
the sacred one.
Hyperion,
the sacred one.
The sacred one.
The sacred one.
LINKS
Mint Page for the collectible, which also acts as your ticket to the festival.
Main Website for Shiba Sequoia Forest Project.