Album: Terra Incognita (2009)

Songfacts®:

  • Terra Incognita was produced by Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Lewis told Q magazine February 2010: "I personally believe Omar Rodriguez-Lopez to be the Jimi Hendrix of our time and I risked humiliation by asking this genius to help bring my ideas to fruition in a way that was more like the weird visions in my head."
  • The Terra Incognita album cover shows Lewis yanking the leash of a huge bull. She told Q magazine that she got the idea for it after hearing Rodriguez-Lopez play this song. Said Lewis: "That bull came to me in a vision through Omar's guitar. He was playing a riff on 'Female Persecution,' a song about witches being burned at the stake. The riff told me a story about a bull. At that moment I knew I must have a bull on a leash. It cannot be photoshop-ed! The bull in the vision represented my power and whether it can be tamed. And, of course, I live in the town where movies get made so you can rent a bull! There's a bull-renting service in the directory! He's a movie bull called Willie. He was docile but I was scared of him. In fact, I cried when he came out of the crate because he was just so beautiful. Every time he put his head down to eat something I thought he was going to charge and gore me to death, which would have been quite an album cover all on its own."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Divided Souls: Musical Alter Egos

Divided Souls: Musical Alter EgosSong Writing

Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.

Graduation Songs

Graduation SongsFact or Fiction

Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.