Credits: stages and cycles

Album

Music and Lyrics by Graham Sedam
Graham Sedam - vocals, bass, keys, drum & percussion programming, guitar
Matt VanOpdorp - guitar
Engineered and Produced by Graham Sedam
Mastered by Dominick Maita at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, CO
CD Layout and Manufacturing by Copy Cats Media, Minneapolis (except for purchases through ReverbNation)
Art by Siko Design
Copyright 2006 Mess of it ALL


Video

Reply
Created, Directed, Produced, and Edited by Tim Kress
Filmed at Black Hawk State Park, Rock Island, IL

Art: stages and cycles

Video: Reply

Video for the song Reply from the album stages and cycles

Official Biography (Pt.1) by J. Thomas Omeara

Mess of it ALL is the pet project of Graham Sedam. It's also his solo project. What this means- in this case- is that, to listen to his debut album, stages and cycles, is to be exposed to the essence of Graham. He writes about extremely personal, abstract ideas. The music on stages and cycles is a lush exploration of what a guy can do with enough determination (it took him 3 years to complete this project), a basement, a PC, and a synthesizer. Graham did have some help though, his long-time collaborator, Matt VanOpdorp, was a big help with laying down the guitar parts that Graham wrote. The ones that he didn't play himself.

The journey that Graham Sedam took to get to Mess of it ALL was long, but in hindsight, seems a straight one. Mess of it ALL is one result of Graham being in bands, and being frustrated by the lack of control a lead singer has over the music in a band. So Graham decided to go it alone. But he'd do it the right way: he went to McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota for a degree in Associate of Applied Science in Recording Technology. The dude really doesn't do things half way, and you can tell that when you listen to his music.

Review from the former site InterludeMusic.Net

Mess of it ALL is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and technical guru Graham Sedam. As an artist who holds little value in conforming to the norm, his music conforms to nothing but his own whims. The name of his project is a fitting moniker - there are so many styles and vibes on the debut album, stages and cycles, the listener is sometimes not sure what to expect next. This broad spectrum of music is not a result of a skittish mind, but rather the result of a mind that appreciates all forms of music and expression as art. Embracing art with an open mind seems to be an attitude that is encouraged by Mess of it ALL. Therefore, I would encourage you to take a listen to the debut album with just that kind of attitude.

Product

track 2 from the album stages and cycles

Tell yourself what you want, I’m just a product.

Drugged with thought unfolding me, fastened too firmly

The ticking of the clock inside my head, showing reluctance towards the indifference

I’m just a product. I’m artificial and limited. I’m just a product. I’m artificial.

Removing the care every now and again, social dignities are blades in the wind.

The machine chugs on imitating perfection. I’m just a product. I’m just

The amputations from the operations - An assembled life - Artificial and limited

I’m just a product. I’m artificial and limited. I’m just a product. I’m artificial.

Face to face with obligation, give me a reason not to medicate creation.

I've lost my identification. I’m past my expiration.

Give me a reason not to medicate creation, a reason not to retain the information.

I’m artificial and limited.

Without a Trace

track 3 from the album stages and cycles

Without a trace led to chase dreams - Wish I knew what was thought when I think

Instead of being anything less - Individually something

Instead of being left in the dark to guess which way my mind will lead

Held up in captivity, feeling the weight of gravity

Combusting from the dense solid state I’m in

Without a trace led to follow dreams -Wish I thought the way I think when I think

Breaking down and giving in to this life giving addiction

Stuck on this vision, an open eyed gaze, waiting for the right time to be drained

Pouring out my sanity, reruns of history

Iridescent philosophies are born again

I can’t help the way I feel today. Couldn't it be a different day that I felt this way?

Is there ever going to be a day that this could actually change? I left without a trace.

The Real You

track 4 from the album stages and cycles

Where are you? I've been looking, but I still never have found.

Just leave me here. It seems you’re never around.

I couldn't tell whether or not you wanted me to see the real you.           

                                                                                               

Curiosity got the best of you accompanied by this intense side of you.

I wish to speculate you can’t really live until you die.

We are all dead inside along with the real you.

                                                                                               

How casual is it to be a casualty? Would you, could you show me?

Incompatible with you - Incomprehensible to you

Would you, could you show me the real you?

Reply

track 5 from the album stages ad cycles

Show some sign of life, specify, describe, confide.

Say a word or two to get me by. Let these words from motionless lips form a reply.

Only yesterday I mistook - Though many times I wish I could

Change the way I look at you - The same way you used to

But our conversations crumble and tear apart my head

Scatterbrained and cast away - Is this the end?

But still there comes no reply - Just way too preoccupied

Our conversations become dead - Scatterbrained and cast away

Scatterbrained and cast away -Our conversations become dead

Signify the simplicity. The reasons we give, on the reasons we feed.

Pallas Athena

track 7 from the album stages and cycles

Allowing who is you to live so blind, producing these lies consuming my life

Holding in the truth you won’t reveal, nursing these wounds that will never heal

It will never heal.

Hard to fit the pieces together, unsure of so much more than the trust

I’m having trouble dealing with this denial left, having trouble dealing with this sickness

For miles and miles I've been waiting for an explanation,

But still I can’t digest your reasoning.

I've trudged through the mud in the pouring rain

To hear you say the words, to hear you cry in vain.

My eyes are grey, she’s stung with the pain, pawning a rage so easy to follow

Allowing you to get to me, it is I, I have denied.

Who have I become laying prey? Allowing myself to become a part of you

Unable to see the unity of apathy you’re inviting

Unable to see the unity you’re inflicting

Driven with an avenging spirit, driven with your hate

Your ways imprisoning eager deity

My eyes are grey; she’s stung with the pain

Gone Sour

track 8 from the album stages and cycles

Sitting back, watching the turnout of events, many moments of silence,

It’s all the same in the end, keeping the confusion in my head.

Sitting back watching confusion invade my life, senseless noise I can’t handle anymore.

Confessions overflow my mind as sure as the days go by.

Treating the sickness as if it were dead

Indulging in attachment knowing only to accept

Surrounding all perception is a pause

I can see sometimes the truth creeping I’m still alive

(Ridden of fulfillment, it’s all gone sour.)

Moving forwards, moving backwards, falling in line, falling astray,

Like all the times before, it will never change.

Sounds in the distance, sound all around, but

Every time I turn around no one’s there.

Thoughts in my brain, chemical impulses, but

Every time a thought transmits I become more aware.

An answer to a question, a stage within the cycle

In the Sun

track 10 from the album stages and cycles

Waiting for the sun to rise. If the sun will even rise.

Your footprints were scattered every which way.

One hell of a way to start the day, on the right note.

As the mind does float into the grey.

Waiting for the sun to retire. The simple glow of a fire.

Burning in my mind, filling my lungs

Exposing the essence that still remains, it feels like minutes but its been hours.

Never underestimate the power. It’s all part of the game.

Your footprints weary, I thought you left.

Running in circles, leading yourself around, unbeknownst of the haze

Your footprints weary, embracing the harshness known

Residue is falling on your flaking face - I thought you left

Fading Into Nothing

track 11 from the album stages and cycles

Were you real? Cause lately nothing seems real.

All I have are photographs, but now you’re fading. Fading into nothing.

Going so fast, another time in the past.

Leaving my mind, all I've ever known being taken away. You’re fading so fast.

When I’m down and you’re not around to catch my fall.

When I fell, you rose. Now you’re fading. Fading into nothing.

Yet Another Sleep

track 12 from the album stages and cycles

Cultivating the seeds of a future I see. Constantly changing the way I perceive.

Challenges that present themselves daily. Responsibilities just get in the way.

Bound to a pace that I keep on fighting. Hoping the end will be slow in approaching.

Holding onto what is still there. Can’t help but feel a bit unprepared.

Preparing the yearning for yet another sleep.

Once again the time is approaching. Feel the hands of fate take away the emotion.

Preparing the yearning for yet another sleep. My mind is awake but my body is aching.

Not enough time the clock keeps on ticking. Preparing the yearning for yet another sleep.

Everything is Clear

track 13 from the album stages and cycles

Everything is clear. Everything is right here, in the right place.

Everything’s alright, worried in a hole I can’t dig out of

In the midst of flight how life has changed

Still pictures, shapes alive, grasping onto the concrete built up inside

No reason to worry, everything’s going to be alright.

It all stays the same in the right place, falling further from the hurt.

Grasping onto the concrete built up inside

Down to This

track 14 from the album stages and cycles

Hardships falling short, falling through the clouds

Prey upon the arms outstretched, one upon the other

Hands open wide clenching for a touch, clenching for a touch of purity

                                                                               

Closer to the end
Has it really come down to this?
In an instant seeming so resistant

We’re getting closer - So resistant - We’re getting closer

Hardships tumbling down, falling to the ground

Retrieving the feathers of these flightless wings

Prying into what it’s come to, a touch of evidence so evident

We’re getting closer - So much closer

Evidence so evident - Out of place these thoughts keep coming

We’re getting closer - So much closer