Artist: Ergo Phizmiz

Title: The Faust Cycle (or The House of Dr. Faustus)

This section of The Faust Cycle has been sub-titled Culinary Philosophy. The narrator, Ergo Phizmiz himself (which I have failed to mention previously), finds that while he was asleep he has been relocated in the house.  Of course, it has been difficult to realize that this has happened several times, because although he has a sense of being moved in his sleep, he still wakes up in the same room — or at least a room he thinks is the same room.

When Ergo awakens this time, he has an encounter with Mr. Suasage, after having eaten one of his suasages by mistake.  Ergo promises to replace Mr. Suasages suasage,  only to be informed that he is now 200 miles inside the house of Dr. Faustus. From here,  Ergo makes his way to the train station riding on a chair.  He attends a dinner with clocks, pigs, Mr. Suasage, and others.  And he misses the train.

The narrative of this section seems to have taken a turn.  It now seems to have been inspired, or is paying homage to Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass.  And, in the same manner this section uses humor and unique visuals to put us into a new world where the impossible becomes possible.

Musically, this section is highly filled out with works by James Nye, and samples from varying classical pieces — including a very hamronically complex symphonic piece that I cannot place for the life of me (although I am certain I have heard it before…it certainly sounds Russian, so I might believe it to be Prokofiev…but I won’t swear to it).

Overall, this section reminded me of listening to a Tom Waits style piece that instead of mixing the musical and narrative elements ala Alice, leaves the pieces seperate to stand on their own, allowing the listener the space to reflect on each element individually and in relation to each other.

Onwards…