---LINER NOTES FOR Instinctive Sketches of West Folkertown, to be released Summer 2024--- Earlier this year, I was invited to collaborate extensively with the Syncopation Bay Astronomical Societal Institute (SBASI), based on a series of translated V-band communications incoming from the Greater Wellerfield region, east of this world, that began to appear in October of 2023. Outside of written collaboration with SBASI, I've translated and repurposed a series of musical compositions based on described landmarks of Folkertown, an established city in the nation of Folker. I specifically chose to focus on the neighborhood of West Folkertown, which while not the densest of the city's many districts, is one of its most emblematic. Below is a detailed description of inspiration and elements of each track that appears on *Instinctive Sketches* --- I. Seebrings on the Great Crossway What information we get from the SBASI logs is highly limited. How can one even begin to construct the existence of a world that can only be grasped in short bursts of translated text? In SBASI's conversations, a theme of shared connection began to unravel itself, starting from features of each other as beings, physiological needs and traits, up to societal structure and philosophy. We also began to understand the perspective of just who we were speaking to, and how their own personal perspective colored the view of their world. Our intercultural ambassadors resided in the city of Tomfolken, the nation's capital, but would often describe other cities such as Cherbourgh (a title we called out as being similar to the French city of Cherbourg) and Dobin along with Folkertown. But often, Folkertown was the one they talked of most. Our ambassador for the evening of 10/25 described in great detail the seebrings, a kind of beige, small aviary animal, maybe the size and fluff of a chickadee, that would dot along the streets along the Great Crossway, a long pedestrian bridge, and pollinate the many 'xandra' flowers that grow along its sides. These xandras would then be plucked and further cultivated for selling by local merchants. In later descriptions, we discovered that xandras are most like geranium flowers on Earth. Hence, I utilized the 1886 Childe Hassam painting 'Geraniums' as part of this album's artwork. For the artwork, I also utilized early ordinance surveys for the city of Manchester, England; this was one of 'example cities' for which we used to compare any urban planning details that the ambassadors, and I recognized a particular bend near the town of Sale that I felt most appropriately compared with what had been described to us. "Altrincham and Sale Boro Const" appears as text in the bottom-left corner; we did become aware of a few businesses of importance being on Street~Altiinc, --- II. Lunchtime Overlook, Avenue~Calunia The world of Greater Wellerfield operates at a slightly different time than we do, though there is a concept of 'hours' and there is a concept of 'days' and 'seasons', even if the measurements aren't necessarily the same. In translation though, and for context's sake, we often use these more human metrics to denote time in the region. In the lunchtime hours, economic activity mostly stops and Folkerans flock to eateries to pick up meals before jettisoning themselves to nature areas and parks, and one of the most popular places to go in Folkertown is the hilly overlook at the edge of Avenue~Calunia. Peaceful reflection mingles with jovial conversation, and it is often a breeding ground for creativity and inspiration that lingers over into the afternoon and evening hours. --- III. Rain in the 19th Hour, Walking Through Town In the early days of our communication, we needed to establish commonalities between one another, and since we had no frame of reference to go by, we asked our ambassador to fill in visual details based on a prompt. One of these, and perhaps my favorite, was a prompt to describe the sensory nature of precipitation in a normal environment. We had expected the description to have an alien feel, and to only be able to grasp one or two words, and for them to only grasp one or two words from us. Instead, we were delighted when our ambassador described, in language we could largely decipher, a scene of rain hitting the pavement in an evening hour. They described a small neighborhood called Yantzen, whose distinctive bungalows appear as 'debased triangles' in shape when viewed from the street. We were so struck by this description that two possibilities came to mind: that someone on Earth was playing some sort of long con on us (which we debunked, based on the detailed manipulations of the V-band communications as it uniquely transformed itself from radio-based frequencies as it entered the ionosphere) or that the world of Greater Wellerfield existed, in some ways and in not, in parallel to our own, a pseudo-multiverse. This theory remains to be tested. --- IV. Crown's View Crown's View is a small enclave located on the northern side of the neighborhood, no more than a block long. Our ambassador described this area as a place for nighttime entertainment. Folkeran law dictates "winddown hours" where louder noises are generally discouraged; this is saved for prime sleeping hours in the nighttime. In capturing glitched street noises against a pad wash of synthetic chords, I sought to demonstrate the inherent loneliness of such a winddown, especially when one is experiencing it themselves. Our ambassador described Crown's View as having its image rehabilitated in recent years, but still maintaining a slightly gritty feel. I asked if gambling games such as poker or blackjack were played, and the ambassador replied with a peculiar game called "gammil", a three-person game played with octagonal coins called "shogam". The purpose of the game was to win the other players' shogam within a given timeframe. I asked if this type of game is played at Crown's View, and our ambassador said it was the most popular game there. --- V. Nostalgic Airhorns of Street~Ryania In Greater Wellerfield, airships are considered the prime form of international transportation, corroborated by a larger availability of helium in its environment. Our ambassador reflected on the build of the most common airships, many of which were developed with unique designs only permissible by such amounts of helium present in the air. I envisioned a nostalgic airhorn, one of the older models that is rarely seen in the area, floating above the common air route above Street~Ryania. In Folkertown, these horns are not just a part of the scenery, they are in many ways a reminder of the society that surrounds them. --- VI. Chiaros at the Great Hall, Avenue~Ionaka When we had asked our ambassadors about dining, an establishment often brought up was the Great Hall on Avenue~Ionaka, a part of West Folkertown that was very close to the city center. Naturally, this area makes for a community hub. The Great Hall is a storied place, with history dating back to the founding of the city itself, dating thousands upon thousands of years. Their signature dish, what we translated as 'kesttes', is a staple of the community, and one famous event describes two rival political leaders, the Khanin and the Bilanot, settling their differences over a shared plate. One thing that we began to pick up in these conversations was the relatively autocratic nature by which Folker's government ruled. Often, our ambassadors would describe national politicians eating in the Great Hall as a communal gesture, and they described some significant powers that these few politicians held individually, in an almost unitary manner between the executive and other branches of government. They were quick to caution that other nations in Greater Wellerfield were similar in setup to our notions of democracy, and naturally we pressed upon this topic to give more details, which they were reluctant to provide. In an interesting twist, I asked one ambassador if they ever ate at the Great Hall themselves. He responded that he hadn't, and that its popularity amongst the general populace had declined significantly in recent years. He did not elaborate when I pressed him further. 'Chiaros' here refer to monochromatic drawings, a style with roots in southern Folker and one that has spread to the rest of the Greater Wellerfield region. The Great Hall hangs some of the most famous of them on its walls, including 'B##357', a work by the renowned A*ben|Autumnina. --- VII. Rendition of Folker Codex A78 The Folker Codex was the first set of musical standards sent to this by our ambassadors. The codex is somewhat extensive, containing hundreds of standards and complex musical notation, and took almost three full days to be delivered and processed. It's important to note that the differences between Folkeran and Western musical notation are vast, and without any audio to verify what the notation stood for, we found only the lyrics to be of any current use. Of this, I selected the lyrics of A78 to sing over an electronic backing. The lyrics themselves tell a story of a chance alehouse meeting between a prominent community leader and a young, lowly assistant. It is said that the assistant's passionate pleas convinced the leader to establish non-national and democratic governance of Cherbourgh, and this governance then spread to other cities. In the nation of Folker, it remains that these city governments provide the only form of truly democratic governance. --- VIII. The Bluefield Commoner A sombre reprieve based on a folk tale, of the commoner of the Bluefield hill, who'd founded the first alehouse in Folkertown, and was struck by seven bolts of lightning the day before the founding of Folker.