My capstone project is a 7 track album fitting into the crust punk genre. Half of the songs on my album are covers, while the other half are original instrumental tracks that I wrote myself. Along with writing my own original songs, I designed and made my album cover. I chose to make a short album for many reasons. My main reason for taking on this project is because while I have played guitar for over 9 years I have never recorded and released my own music. When I was faced with this project and the ability to do whatever I wanted, it seemed like a perfect motivation for me to finally start to record my album. Throughout my capstone I have worked with three different people to reach my end goal. First is my mentor, Foster. He played the drums for most of my songs, as well as teaching me how to use Studio one. Studio one is an audio editing software that was vital in completing my project. I also worked with my girlfriend Charlotte. Similar to Foster she played bass for many of my songs. Lastly I worked with another friend of mine, Val. When Foster was not available to record Val stepped up and helped by drumming for three of my songs. The process of making my capstone has been difficult at times but I am more than happy with the result and I hope others are too.

Playlist

Song #1 Bridge over troubled water -johnny cash

Johnny Cash’s rendition of bridge over troubled water is a heartfelt cover of the original song by Simon and garfunkel. The lyrics and tone I believe heavily portray offred’s relationship with moira throughout the book. Lyrics such as “when times are rough and friends just can’t be found like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.” Moira has been a lifeline for offers during the most challenging times of her life.

Song #2 Time in a bottle -jim croce

Another song that reminds me of Offred’s memory of her family, more specifically when she was allowed to see a photo of her child, is Jim Croce’s Time in a bottle. The song is about time, or the lack thereof, that we have to spend with those we love. Offed often thinks about this, her child was so very young when she was taken away. The excerpt from the song “ If i could save time in a bottle the first thing i’d like to do is to save every day til eternity passes away just to spend them with you.” This almost word for word represents offred’s feeling about the time that she has lost in gilead.

Song #3 The chelsea hotel -Leonard cohen

The commander’s relationship with Offred is complicated to say the least, We are unsure of anyone’s true feelings, but I believe that the song The Chelsea Hotel by leonard cohen is a near perfect summary of The commander’s attitude towards Offred. The lyrics “I don’t mean to suggest that I love you the best, I can’t keep track of each fallen robin. I remember you well at the Chelsea hotel. That’s all I don’t even think of you that often. “ This quote is almost exact as to how the commander feels about the offer. The line “i cant keep track of each fallen robin” refers to how many other handmaids the commander has done this with before.

Song #4 Where or when -peggy lee

Originally composed in 1937 by Richard Rogers for the play “Babes in arms” It is undoubtedly a love story. I believe the song takes on a slightly different meaning in the handmaid’s tale. The Lyric “it seems we stood and talked like this before, the smile you were smiling then, but I can’t remember where, or when.” originally this lyric was most definitely about two people who feel as though they have met before. If we look at this in the context of the handmaid’s tale it’s as if Offred is trying to remember her time with Luke but her memories are slowly slipping away. She can remember some things most things she can’t seem to remember where or when.

Song#5 The partisan- Leonard cohen

The partisan, or La complainte du partisan is a song with a very rich history, one that is very reminiscent of the handmaid’s tale. Originally La complainte du partisan was a song dating back to the French resistance during their occupation by the Nazis. The reason I have chosen Leonard Cohen’s cover of the song is for two simple reasons. It is mostly in english, and it is slightly less specific towards the french resistance. With lyrics like “I have changed my name so often, I lost my wife and children, but I have many friends.” We can see the clear connections to the handmaid’s tale, as Offred has had her name changed, she also lost her husband and child. Those around her can be seen as her new friends, that arent really her friends, just people in the same terrible boat as her.

In my visual representationI chose to depict the scene where Offred notices the phrase “Nolite te bastardes Carborundorum” scrawled into her closet,this roughly translates to “don’t let the bastards beat you down”. This scene really stood out to me as it shows possibly two things, a previous handmaid had scratched this into her closet shortly before escaping gilead and moving on to brighter pastures. Or a previous handmaid had scratched the message into the closet shortly before being captured, punished, or even killed for displaying rebellious behavior. I think the fact that this scene was so open to interpretation is what made me so interested in it. However I chose the ladder in my depiction, having very muted colors and a general disheveled and gloomy look to the closet certainly does not paint a picture of hope. I chose to have the cloak hanging slightly off of the hanger in order to show that Offred still has some human instincts of laziness and that the brainwashing has not yet fully taken her over. My choice of only putting one robe and wing set in the closet is meant to show how little the handmaid’s actually possess; they are allowed no personal belongings, and the ones mandated to them are very few. The dresser itself I tried to make slightly more ornate, in order to make it fit with the rest of the house, but made sure to make it not overly complicated in order to re-emphasize the point that there are no luxuries when you are a handmaid.I think the main reason that I wanted to add a visual component to this scene is because Offred goes into very little detail regarding the closet and the message inside it, and I believe that it deserved more attention. This must be a choice by the author to show offred’s attitude towards rebellion at the time. I think that gilead is full of amazingly grim imagery that is very well conveyed just for being words on a page. When reading it is as if I can see the world of gilead around me. I made this piece feel natural, as if I had this picture In my mind the whole time.

This benchmark we were tasked with creating a visitors guide for a fictional town of our creation.