The Zones of Nuratopia
Contributed by Jeff Sponsler
At the end of the rock opera, Etheria (https://www.synthology.com/etheria), the character Polyxena jets off into space to seek more adventures. The composer of Etheria, Jeff Sponsler, has been working on a sequel and the results are a new audio recording, The Zones of Nuratopia.
Polyxena’s craft crashes on a strange planet and she is rescued by a friendly robot, Thalamax. With the robot, she sets out to find some answers and a way to get home. She meets a handsome but danger loving pilot, Sargon. Thalamax and Sargon possess fragmentary details about the planet and educate Polyxena about the world. Nuratopia has geographic zones, and each zone has a psychoactive field that changes human brain function. The zones are separated by force field walls that erase short term memory. The planet has a resident army that is commanded by a tough General Vitrex and there are ghostly sirens, the Preliving Seductroids, who haunt the land looking for souls to absorb.
Thalamax reports to Polyxena that there is a god-like computer, Brainstem, that resides in Zonus Centralis. To get to that zone requires passing through all other zones. With this knowledge, Polyxena begins a journey through the planet’s zones to find Brainstem. When Polyxena sleeps a mysterious dream spirit, Andromeda, appears to give her critical opinions and unsolicited advice. Polyxena encounters a young resident, Daphne, and this girl joins the adventure. Daphne has some mystical powers that contribute to the group’s survival on their dangerous journey. This musical play documents Polyxena's complicated and challenging journey through the Zones of Nuratopia.
This new audio recording is available as a CD and from on-line streaming services including YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon.com and Spotify.
Zones was recorded at AMA and all singers are Alaskans. Local voice talent, Lisha Antiqua, spent hours in the studio helping Jeff record the initial rough draft of the play and then later performing the final tracks for character Polyxena. Lisha’s contribution to this project is tremendous.
The AMA Recording Studio employs Pro Tools software, Neumann microphones, API 1608 II mixing board, Native Instruments virtual instruments, and the Burl Mothership audio interface.
The lyrics of the play and the very talented singers who contributed to this project are listed on the website https://www.synthology.com/nuratopia.
Alaska Music and Arts, LLC is a local facility that includes the recording studio, karate instruction, and the award-winning Mat Valley Dance school (https://www.mvddance.com).
AMA is affiliated with the Alaska Brain Center, LLC (https://akbraincenter.com).