German Army — Animals Remember Human
The world makes me shiver with anxiety. I had my first anxiety attack at 22 years old in the middle of moving back to my hometown. I was without purpose, desperately singing along to a song. And then I felt half my body go numb, then the other half. I willed myself to the nearest ER believing I was having a stroke. It was fear gripped by exponential fear. I wanted to claw my way out of the situation, but all I got was a paper bag and a lengthy sit in a near-empty waiting room.
What I learned from that day was the fight-or-flight instinct never left human beings despite thousands of years of evolution. And the stimuli that triggers that instinct in some of us is barely a hair’s thickness and strength — and always cocked — taking only the slightest breeze to fire.
Animals Remember Human is a much different species in its nervous approach to animal and man’s tricky cohabitation. But it speaks to the larger idea that neither is as separate as we’d like to pretend. This time GeAr tackle the fearless flight of birds, who in their own right lean heavily toward the flight mechanism in both its most literal and figurative tones. Focusing on endangered species and habitats, the eclectic mix from the project reflects the variety in our own lives. Each song reflects a movement or pattern etched in time and space, reflecting an ever-changing world where birds are fearful of our existence but more scared of not existing themselves.
The shared instincts humans and birds share is keen. We find ourselves placed in worrying situations, heightened by outside forces that we’ve unintentionally triggered by baited breath and careless actions. To here it placed in sound, where we often escape from the drudgery of our misgivings, sets a spirit free. It won’t cure what ails us all, but like the remedies I’ve sought for a disorder that will always be a part of my day, by confronting my flight instincts with calming practices that steel me to fight, I hope to thrive and rebound like our avian friends.
