METALLIC RAIN is one of eight pieces I wrote in response to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that took place on Christmas Day of 2021. I was entranced by the idea that such an instrument could bring us closer to the beginning of time and I began to compose soundscapes that traced its progress.
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When I read about a Jupiter-like exoplanet (Wasp 121b) that rained rubies, sapphires and liquid metals, my first thought was to create a glittering, jewel like collage. Then I learned that the planet was tidally locked with one side continually in darkness. Unfettered by formal training in the sciences, I could freely fantasize that life as we know it might not need light, water or the right temperature. I challenged the “Goldilocks Zone” theory and the dark lyrics speak for themselves.
The JWST study of Wasp 121b is led by Dr. Thomas Mikal Evans of the Max Plank institute in Heidelberg Germany. I contacted him to make sure my poetic license wasn’t too far afield. He assured me that it wasn’t and his detailed comments about the precise nature of the precipitation informed my lyrics, along with choice lines and images by my long time collaborator writer Tim Lucas.
