DIVIDE! The Gospel of the Geiger - MP3!

Here it is!

I've wanted to write this song for SO long. I actually had the idea to write a song about the Children of Atom waaaay back in 2018. When I wrote 'The House Always Wins' it was in response to a challenge to write a track about a Fallout faction. I had ideas for both House and the Children of Atom but ultimately went with House because at the time, a video where I stood still on a small green screen was infinitely more viable working out of my living room!

The idea for the song has sat on the backburner of my mind ever since.

When we finished production on The Ribbon late last year I decided that the huge cabin we built for that was too expensive and too much work to build to just use once. So I set my mind to thinking of a project that could make use of that set again in a new way.

That's when I realised that with a relatively simple re-dress it could be a classic American style wooden chapel and the perfect opportunity to revisit that idea that had been in a holding pattern for so long.

Believe it or not, the idea for the song was always intended to me a much more serious, sombre song. I hot on the idea of using the Long term Nuclear Waste Warning Messages very early on and always thought they'd make a cool, haunting through-line, with a very ominous sermon by a preacher type character, in line with the sort of thing I'd done for my role in 'A Purpose for New London'.

But when it came time to write the song this year I realised I already had a very serious song in the line-up (spoilers!) and didn't want to double-bill it with another one. I needed a different angle, a sound that still said 'preacher' but was more upbeat and fun.

Oh. Oh, that's... That's gospel.

That's both incredibly fun but incredibly difficult.

Good job I enjoy a challenge!

At this point I didn't actually have a theme or topic for the song. 'We like radiation actually' was a fun gimmick for a faction but wasn't going to carry a song on its own. But the pivot into American revival style gospel gave me a whole playing field of ideas to play with. The corruption and hypocrisy of so called 'mega-churches' and their faith-for-profit ways was my first thought. A bombastic southern preacher was a fun character to play and a far cry from the dower doom laden delivery I was trying to distance myself from.

But from there as I wrote more themes emerged, fantastic parallels I could draw between the ideas of the CoA and the world today. Science denialism and the use of selective facts are a real problem in today's world and were very easy to transpose onto a cult that believe that something proven to be dangerous is actually good for you. Using the facts and science that serve them and denying those that don't.
(Ever notice that both the holy book at the start of the video AND the book that the preacher later mocks are both science text books? Cherry-picking the facts that work for them. The book they approve also happens to be a children's book on radiation whereas the one they decry is an adult textbook. These ideas serve them well at a surface level, but not when you actually look closer and learn about them properly. Trust the simplification, don't do the research for yourself. Don't look closer.)

The CoA's deification of 'Division', their worship of the idea that in the division of atoms enlightenment is found, was all too perfect an analogue for the use of division in society today as a recruitment method for extremist ideas. In religion and more increasingly politics, it's 'us vs them' and if they won't join us they must want to destroy us. All are welcome but those who refuse are the enemy.
If you've been around my work for even a little while you'll have seen how I like to use the worlds of games as a lens to explore our own and this one was no different. In fact, I got a little anxious I got a little too political and might undercut the otherwise jaunty oeuvre of the track, but I think over all it still turned out a very fun piece.

I swear I never write with the intention of things being as long as they end up.

This was my first track to be fully composed for real instruments, working with a team of musicians and a fantastic composer and arranger it's super exciting to have that authentic gospel sound. It's so insane to me hearing the final instrumental when I think back to the basic strings of guitar chords I wrote and sent over as the initial basis of the track!

I couldn't have put a project like this together without all of your incredible support! I really hope you all have enjoyed the end result!

Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments!