The Golden Age

The Golden Age
Mark Sheeky
2023

Detail from The Golden Age Detail from The Golden Age Detail from The Golden Age

Stream Version Track List
1. Welcome to my Gallery (03:59)
2. Franz Halz (03:11)
3. The Laughing Cavalier (01:48)
4. Girl Reading a Letter (02:32)
5. Autumn's Shadow (03:49)
6. Nature Morte (02:16)
7. Cotán (03:16)
8. Tycho Brahe the Noseless Astronomer (4:20)
9. The Lace Maker (01:35)
10. The Girl with the Pearl Earring (02:22)
11. Rembrandt (03:20)
12. The Legend of Zurbarán (04:04)
13. Art For Me (03:04)

CD Version Track List
1. Welcome to my Gallery (03:59)
2. Franz Halz (03:11)
3. The Laughing Cavalier (01:48)
4. Girl Reading a Letter (02:29)
5. Autumn's Shadow (03:47)
6. Nature Morte (02:16)
7. Cotán (03:16)
8. Tycho Brahe the Noseless Astronomer (4:20)
9. The Lace Maker (01:35)
10. The Girl with the Pearl Earring (02:22)
11. Rembrandt (03:19)
12. The Legend of Zurbarán (03:56)
13. Art For Me (03:04)

About This Album
An album about and an homage to paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, but also about art, and the artists' life. The music is unified by images, paintings and moods, from the dark, ascetic Cotán to the light and gleeful Laughing Cavalier. The album as a whole is a journey from day, to night, and the streets where we find a struggling Zurbarán.

Some of these songs date back a few years, to 2008 and a series of fun songs written about Vermeer paintings. The Lace Maker was a piano piece composed for a Vermeer themed piano performance that also included The Astronomer (which was subsequently released on The Anatomy of Emotions).

Several songs were written specifically for this album; The Legend of Zurbarán, Cotán, Welcome to my Gallery and Art For Me. Nature Morte was a live synth recording made in one take, an evocation of a specific mood. Tycho Brahe stands out here as not a painter, but an astronomer, yet the 16th/17th century theme and the exuberant style of the song fits perfectly.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. Image courtesy of Mauritshuis, The Hague.

The Golden Age
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The Golden Age
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