Intrinsic (album)

Release and promotion

On May 30, 2012, the band revealed the album title, track-listing, and artwork; they also announced various pre-order bundles. The first single, "Holomovement", was released on June 11, 2012. The band also released an animated video to go with the premiere. On July 17, 2012, the band released their very first music video for the song "Causality". The second video was released for "Dreaming Schematics" on December 3, 2012. The videos share a similar concept - they act as a part 1 and part 2; both were produced by KOTK Productions.

Concept

Jonathan Carpenter commented:

Intrinsic‘s lyrics were aimed to be a science-fiction inspired conceptual storyline. It’s like a handful of puzzle pieces. Instrumentals that have different feels and styles. The Contortionist has always been about contrast, the heaviest and then the most beautiful. This provides a very wide range of emotions to write over. We want the listener to feel the ups and downs and to get engaged in the content. When piecing it all together lyrically… I wanted the concepts to be present without being overbearing. The fans who go looking for the details will find them and the casual listener can listen to any song and enjoy a small piece of the puzzle. Never leaving the boundaries of the mind, the first five songs range from mind/brain phenomena and reality theories to religion and mind trips. The last five are from the perspective of future patients coping with a shared reality scenario; a narrative on the potential of using technology to achieve a perfect dream you could feel and control with ease. There’s an eerie uncertainty to how a person’s psyche will react to that degree of extended consciousness.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Jonathan Carpenter; all music composed by The Contortionist.

Personnel