Oscar van Dillen - Elements 6: Carbon (2021) Hi-Res

Carbon is above all the Element that makes life possible. As symbolized by the pencil drawing at this album’s cover, it forms chains, and as basic carbon-based chains the amino acids are found in all life forms. As are the very long chains of amino acids, such as DNA, which is also based on carbon chains. Carbon chemistry has become such a special scientific field, it has its own name called organic or biochemistry, meaning chemistry involving carbon. We have hardly scratched the surface of this vast scientific field. In it is hidden still the secret to eternal life, if the key can be found to the (carbon based) chemistry that ages our bodies. Every 7 years or so, almost all of our bodies’ cells die off and are replaced by new cells, but just these are made a little older than the ones they replace. The key to eternal life would be found if we can change the chemical components of the clock mechanism to force new cells to be made of a 30-year-old ideally aged body. Graphic novel authors Marvano and Haldeman speculate on this very real possibility in their series Dallas Barr.

Life on Earth is also made possible by the biogeochemical carbon cycle, gradually recycling the element step by step over the enormous timespan of 100-200 million years.

Two structural elements that make carbon bring life to our planet are therefore 1) the chains and 2) the cycle. These two structural elements form the base of the originally created modular instrument on which the music of this album was performed. The composition process for the music on this album therefore involved the design and creation of the instrument, of the 7-part music, and the recording of the performance of the music.