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Underline
Underline Album Art
Underline Album Art
Area 11
Released November 2, 2014
Recorded 2014/2013
Length 16:46
Label Area 11/Smihilism Records
Producer Area 11

The Underline EP is Area 11's second EP, after Blackline. It was released between All The Lights In The Sky and Modern Synthesis. Unlike Blackline, none of the songs were featured in a later album. Underline is also the the first release that contained no tracks based on an anime.

On 31st July 2020, the EP was re-released on Area 11's Patreon as Underline (Complete), alongside instrumentals and demos of the original tracks and a demo ultimately rejected from the final release, Agree & Amplify.

Track Listing

  1. Are You Listening?
  2. In The Blind
  3. Override [A]

Track Listing (Complete)

  1. Are You Listening?
  2. In The Blind
  3. Override [A]
  4. Are You Listening? (Instrumental)
  5. In The Blind (Instrumental)
  6. Override [A] (Instrumental)
  7. Are You Listening? (Demo)
  8. In The Blind (Demo)
  9. Override [A] (Live Demo)
  10. Are You Listening? (Live Instrumental Demo)
  11. Agree & Amplify (Rejected Demo)

History

With the Ni Tour ticket purchases, Area 11 offered the option to get the Tour Bundle which included 'Underline EP'. The EP was then also made available to pre-order separately. On the 2nd of November 2014, the EP download unlocked and then became available to buy on Amazon and iTunes.

EP 2 Notes

Before Underline was released, a picture of a notepad was posted to various Area 11 social media pages. The meaning of some of the notes have since been realized, others still have yet to be understood.

EP 2

Recording:

Homunculus - This song was given away free by the band some months prior to the EP release.

Are You Listening - First played as part of The Ichi Tour in Nottingham. Later released on Underline.

Agree & Amplify (Reference Seraphim) - Seraphim is the plural name for angels or other celestial beings in much of the old testament and Hebrew biblical works. Some of the Seraphim are Metatron, Kemuel, Nathanael, Gabriel, and Lucifer.

'Agree & Amplify' is also a tactic used in conversation.

Sparkles* later stated on Discord that this track was mostly synth-driven, not very good, and was vetoed by the entire band when they were deciding what tracks to put on Modern Synthesis.

The song was later released as the final track of Underline: Complete. "Seraphim" were eventually referenced in Dancing on the Head of a Pin.

Processor - This song was later released as the fifth track on Modern Synthesis.

Cassandra Pt. V - This song was later released as part of Cassandra Rising.

Mobius Strippers - A Mobius Strip is an object with only one surface and one edge. This means that running your finger around one side of it means you will arrive at your start point and have crossed the whole of the surface. Mobius Strips are sometimes used in analogue tape recordings if the recording needs to be looped or continuous.'

Confirmed by Sparkles* to have eventually turned into Red Queen.

Pillows - Sparkles* was considering doing a cover of a Pillows song.

For Later:

M, R, S - Confirmed to be an early demo of Override [C]. On the July 2016 Modern Synthesis livestream, Sparkles* stated that an early name for the track was Maria, Rose, Sina.

PM - Puppet Master abbreviation, was entirely aborted.

Smihilism Twitter Logo

Smihilism - May be the opposite of Nihilism, something which is a negative emotion or the negation of certain things, the 'Sm' added onto it could be from the word 'smile' thus giving it a more positive meaning. Smihilism is also the name of the record label in which Underline was released.

Confirmed by Sparkles* to have eventually turned into In The Blind.

Six Eight - Note that '6/' is crossed out which could have been 6/8. This could represent the time signature of a future song and as thus it has been named that temporarily.

Other:

The smiley face is probably a crude rendition of a troll face.

Trivia

Sparkles posted on his Medium here a review which he calls "the best review I've ever read about something I've created. It’s so right."

Media

Area 11 released two videos detailing the creation process of Underline.

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