This track is the work of Carlos Banda Montes (aka Carl Operating System) as part of Rhizome DC's Art Doulas Project, January 2021. We asked for prompts from the general public, and we asked for artists to interpret the prompts. To read more about the project, and to see all of the entries, please visit www.rhizomedc.org/doulas

Carlos' prompt was this image created by JS Adams, as shown in the image for this track.

Carlos writes:
"a recording inspired by visual art.
A bit on the recording process:
When I'm to record a piece of "music", I usually don't use 2D still images to base the work off. Moving pictures occur "in time" like music and words, but not a photograph. Paused, like a track, only momentarily.
Of wallpaper, I thought
"this image has form"
a square in shape
4/4, 4x4, 4
Depth, I find. What is that we dig for? If we look for different ways to "look" at things, we may see what we're searching for. We continue to work with the same thing "over and over and over and over... again". Focus on one thing, and you may just be able to tune out the rest for a while. How often we forget our heart, until it's being crushed. Noise, drowns you, even softly. While, the image remains still.
A deep thought, with not many words.
A bent line can make a square, like a long beat can make a measure. Forming an idea takes time, naturally. Piece by piece, we'll put things together. Always, take time to feel the one thing that constantly goes just to keep you alive.
It hit me, all of a sudden.
"Piece" is multiple tracks. I "look" at the picture, and it makes sense(s). I can see the things I'm looking at. Piece by piece, I'm reminded. A symbol, a stamping, an effect. Harmony, cut up, ripped like a speaker. Cut up, broken, but it's okay. Stitching is just crossing things and tying them together. Are most things a compound?
Two, one on each side. There are "two sides" to everything.
How do certain things make me feel? Certain ways. It can be soft or hard. same or different. in or out. An image can give you all these things, at once. I guess a recording of sound can, as well. One can listen to a song once and then REALLY listen to it. Piece by piece, I remember.
What is this body made of? Pieces are of different materials. Organic and Synthetic. They interact, somehow making it work. It's saying something.
What could it be saying? What could it be saying, to me? What is this I see? Listen to the heart beat
Have you ever been crossed? Like a hemisphere, twisted. We split heads. Then, we split sides. why must we choose sides? because.
This is just a thought. I take it piece by piece. Little by little. There's a "line" to color within, but you don't have to. There's a lot one can say and say and say.
Words. Can. Be. Said. However.
a sound like a thought, can express so little so few different ways. Though, a word like a picture can express so much so many different ways. All the tools you have are all the tools you'll need. It doesn't matter, because so many words can be written with just a few characters. Some words are compound of one letter. A(mazing).
Not everything has to be said. Nor sung, for this matter. Most things can be communicated through feeling alone. Feeling's good and bad. clear and confusing. When I look at the picture, tilting it's. One thing pulled me in and made me sick. I step back and look back. The whole, it makes me laugh. I'm going back in. A new spot, discovered. This is made of something "else". But, what? a faint noise, you know not what. your left or right, which was it? Hands, left and right, are still the hand of one body. Feel the heart, to center.
Sometimes, It's best to just not. Because, you know. So much, happening. Breathe. Okay, next, I guess. Thoughts can come clear and ideas can be vague. Loud and quiet. Yet, the heart is constant. You're breathing, as long as it's beating. One day, though, it's just going to-
Taking form, how malleable we find it.

Instruments used:
Yamaha Reface DX, Eastwood Fretless Bass Guitar, Squire Telecaster, Tascam microphone for voice, Bosca Ceoil for beat, Reaper for multitrack recording, Focusrite Audio Interface, HP to run Windows, Pioneer Stereo Systems, Yamaha Speakers

Special thanks to Rhizome DC for the inspiration."

soundcloud.com/carloperatingsystem/