At the Threshold of the Underworld: Deep Time, Music, and Ecstatic Truth

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5429/2079.387(2025)v15i1.11en

Keywords:

Ambient music, Deep time, Ecstatic truth, Geology, mythology

Abstract

The article engages with filmmaker Werner Herzog’s theory of ecstatic truth to explore how music can open a pathway into a reckoning with deep time. Coined by John McPhee, deep time refers to vast geological scales of time. The discussion is focused on Lawrence English and Lea Bertucci’s 2023 experimental ambient album Chthonic. Herzog’s theory of ecstatic truth refers to moments that transcend logic and reason, entering a realm of imagination. “Chthonic” simultaneously refers to the mythological realm of the underworld and the subterranean world studied by geologists. The combination of field recordings and instrumental performances, along with the song titles, album title, and cover image alludes to an imaginative world that blends mythology and geology. This combination creates the conditions for a reckoning with an ecstatic truth about the story of our planet and an imaginative understanding of deep time.

Author Biography

Sean Steele, York University

Sean Steele is a PhD Candidate in the Humanities Department at York University. His interdisciplinary research explores intersections between music, religion, and culture, and his dissertation focuses on music festivals as expressions of secular sacrality. Sean’s other research interests include artistic expression and deep time, intersections between spirituality, religion, ecology, and climate change, and alternative forms of liberal arts education. His scholarly work has appeared in Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, The American Studies Journal, The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, Rock Music Studies, and The Journal for the Academic Study of Religion. Outside of his academic pursuits, Sean is a musician who performs and records in a variety of styles.

References

References

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Discography

English, Lawrence and Lea Bertucci. 2023. Chthonic, American Dreams Records, 11 August, United States.

Elegiac graffiti wall art of Amy Winehouse

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Published

22-05-2025

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2025): Open Issue

Section

Articles – Open Section

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