Prins Obi – The Secret Life of Mara Gibb (CD + Comic book)

This is not just a (concept) album, it is a space opera: “Mara Gibb is a creature from planet Bendex who works in the bendrilium mines, a job they inherited from their parent. One day, they decide that they’re unhappy with their life. They jump into an intergalactic cargo ship and wander the galaxy seeking peace of mind, moments of clarity, new experiences, their own path (despite others’ expectations), spiritual enlightenment, reconnection with their inner child and the simple pleasures of life.” Reading the comic book while listening to the album is highly recommended (or not, ’cause either way, these tracks are audio depictions of Mara Gibb’s adventures).

Navigation Guide:
01 Planet Bendex – Working in the mines.
02 Planet Bendex – Mara Gibb learns the cargo ship will leave soon. They race to catch it. As soon as they sneak on the ship, it disappears into the upper atmosphere.
03 Traveling through space in the scary, organic, industrial cargo ship.
04 Planet Beta Orionis – Insectacons inhabit this planet. They’re half-organic, half-cybernetic. They approach. They’re hopping around on the surface. A swarm passing by. There is something militaristic and tribal about them. The chief controls their movements with the beating of the rhythmic timpani.
05 Beta Orionis’ religious area – Many tribes are worshipping various deities at the same time; their prayers blending together… Mara Gibb slowly leaves the circle and hears how the hymns resonate and are taken over by the bells. They return to the cargo ship.
06 The cargo ship jumps through space and time. Bongo Fury (the robot) is calculating their trajectory, the turns, and it is avoiding obstacles. (The math goes past us so fast…)
07 Floating through the beauty of the Cosmos, all the imaginations of all the beings form the fluid of space/time.
08 Through a window they see the cosmic debris hitting the ship. They enter the planet of frogs.
09 Planet Zorax – The frogs emit a hallucinogenic compound that transforms the atmosphere into a dream maker. Mara Gibb is on a pedestal seeing themself as a demigod and at the same time a vulnerable and curious inner child.
10 Planet Zorax – They come around from the trip. They stuff their inner child back in and they’re sucked into their own core. Their exterior disappears and they’re drawn into their inner space (their mother’s womb?). The place of memory and the inner cosmos. Optimism in the dark.
11 Mara Gibb is more enlightened. They’re re-entering the world. They’re more centred and seeing planet Beta Orionis from above.
12 Narrator’s evaluation thus far.
13 Bongo Fury is back to its calculating and Mara Gibb is again flying though space to destinations unknown. They’re navigating the ship together. The once scared observer is now more involved. Eventually, Mara Gibb takes over completely and steers the ship into the unknown.
14 Mara Gibb is dancing with Bongo Fury in the cargo ship as it flies to destinations unknown.
15 The cargo ship and the robot disappear and Mara Gibb is left to fly through space. They’re freed of the machinery of life and left with their original atoms and nothing more. A cosmic hippy one with the Cosmos.