Edges of Dreaming is back with a challenge episode! Several weeks ago, we posted a picture on Facebook that evoked a number of WTF questions, so we decided to make a challenge out of it, and today we present the results: Robert Scott Thompson, George L Smyth, and Carbonates On Mars all weigh in with their musical interpretations of the image.

The rest of the program explores mystery and obscurity by way of the RadioSpiral library, with works by Bing Satellites, Giles Reaves, Lucette Bourdin, Joe McMahon, M. Peck, and Spheruleus. Skr0!nk won’t be playing live today because the Monstrositree needs to be put back together after a GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) attack.

• “Teardrops and the Holding Pattern” – Robert Scott Thompson
  Tracks from the current recording sessions for new albums. Recorded during social isolation for COVID-19, April 2020.
• “Rhetorical Difference” – George L Smyth
  The wonderful image you offered is quite open to interpretation. As I tried to get my mind around it I decided to go with something inspired by Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question. 
• “Wookiee Foot” – Carbonates On Mars
  All composed, produced and mastered on an iPad. It’s my tool of choice, I find it so interesting and fun to use and the apps that are around now are incredibly professional.
• “spatterpattern 3b [drippy]” – Mr Spiral
  Recorded live during Meander, this track was created specifically for this challenge.

And the answer to the challenge? Water splattered on foggy glass after a shower, with a window across the room on the other side of the glass. There were a few fascinating aspects to the image, especially the regularity and order of the splatters, with the drips coming from them evoking images from old sci-fi films.

• “Mysterious Figures” – Bing Satellites – Twilight Sessions Volume 8 (2011)
• “Great Mystery” – Giles Reaves – Sacred Space (2001)
• “Opaque”” – Spheruleus – A Vision Obscured (2009)
• “Dream Traveler – Lucette Bourdin – The Mystery of the Midnight Sun (2006)
• “Obscure Moments of Clarity” – M. Peck – Beneath Forever (2011)
• “Obscured” – Joe McMahon – emblem (2013)