Winds is:
Lars Eric Si - Vocals & Bass
Carl August Tidemann - Guitars
Jan Axel von Blomberg - Drums
Andy Winter - Keys

The string ensemble features:
André Orvik - Violin
Vegard Johnsen - Violin
Dorthe Dreier - Viola
Hans-Josef Groh - Cello

Drums were recorded at Toproom Studio during August 2002
Strings and vocals were recorded at Fagerborg Studio during December 2003
Guitars, bass and piano were recorded at various times during 2003

Drum sessions engineered by Borge Finstad
String sessions engineered by Martin Abrahamsen
Guitar and bass sessions engineered by Carl August Tidemann
Vocal and piano sessions engineered by Andy Winter

Mixed at The Factory Recording Studios by Scott Ternan, Carl August Tidemann and Andy Winter
Mastered at Suite Sound Labs by Jamie Sitar
Graphic design and imagery by Travis Smith
All music and arrangements by Winds
Lyrics and concept by Andy Winter
Produced by Winds

Lyrical contributions to "What Is Beauty?" by Henry Leirvoll
Jan Axel von Blomberg uses Sabian cymbals and Axis pedals

Official Website: www.winds.ws

WHAT IS BEAUTY?

Can you hear the stepping on twigs?
Can you see the heart of the dark?
Can you smell the scent of vigor lost?
Can you feel the gust of cold?

I can show you what beauty is
But needed is a heart of trust
We ignite the spark of sound
And seem blinded to the enlightened

The sting of rot is our perfume
Where god's icy wind will blow

When I smell the roses humanity smells
When I hear the voice of belief
When I see the light of a sunny day
And when I feel the caress of love

Remind me what ugliness is
I cannot seem to recall

Charmed by the smell of the roses
Feinted by the voice of belief
Deceived by the light of a sunny day
And lured by the caress of love

THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Where lies the wonder in all I see
Surrounded by a phantom dream
I question my fate in this existence

In my view are my deepest thoughts
Bound together by that which isn't real
In this kingdom truth lies hidden

Existing through infinity and space
Where fate is concealed and matter released
The deepest secrets of my world
I open my arms and welcome their demise

Yet they will never seize to be
Expanding everlastingly beyond limitation
Created and recreated with no conclusion

VISIONS OF PERFECTION

I speak through my silence
I let my stillness wander
I stagger across the end of forever
Taking me to my home
Where nothing ever ends
A place so far away
In the midst of the heavens

Spread your wings and fly
Fly towards the open sky
Be free

By the sun and its fire
My burning desire
Nothing can take me higher

Before my eyes in all its wonder
Beauty presented ain all its awe
Visions of perfection wielded by sight
To which my reverence will never yield

THE FIREWORKS OF GENESIS

We reach toward the untouchable
Streams of endless light surrounding our embrace
But those flames burned cold long ago
Left are only remnants of time and space

These are the things we're only meant to feel
In fragments beyond time's mighty reel

Feed the fire before the fire feeds on us
It's the way of life as we know it before it comes to pass
This is the ultimate paradox

The fireworks of genesis are at play
We're given life only to have it taken away
If the dice is rolled when truth be told
Then sit back and watch the game unfold

UNDER THE STARS

Under the stars and beneath the sun, in this indefinite realm
Being is beyond understanding, life-like yet just a dream

There are whispers from the other side, calling for a path to reason
But the desire of a lesser kind holds strong in a world of treason
It is only when the darkest hour approaches that our true nature is exposed

So the voice of reason remains but a whisper in the dark
Everything that begins ends with the last of the two
Until they anew will arise from the ruin of that single spark
The one which is no more and that never was

For under the stars and beneath the sun, there is really nothing at all
Yet even so we choose this path, for only to watch the aftermath
Knowing all things that come to an end, leave only broken pieces to mend

A MOMENT FOR REFLECTION

A shadow covers me
I see a distant star in the cold sky
For a single moment, time stands still and becomes an etenity of lost dreams
I'm looking at that dark place, somewhere out there in the universe
I awake from my trance... reality is still intact, still unharmed and unbroken
Not even my last resolve can change its will

Each moment ahead is completely in the dark
We know nothing of what's to come and fragments of memory is our only gift
I take a step further into the night, having remembered, but still I remain
The source of this design is unknown, yet walking in circles seems to have meaning somehow

TIME WITHOUT END

I look through the hourglass waiting for time to pass
The hours are like old traces of lines in the sand
It seems I've strayed from the path somehow
Lost in the memories of old tomorrows

Not recalling where I am, I stop for a moment in thought
A voice calls out to me in the darkness of my imagination
Take my hand and walk with me, for I will show you the way
Take my hand and walk with me, for I will lead the way

You dream of that which lies beyond, but once you're there, there is no turning back
When you walk with me, your fate has been sealed until time without end
Desiring to be enlightened at every cost, no matter the consequence
A weakness greater than you will ever know, for the means justify the end

A moment seems like a lifetime in this midset
As if time stands still, yet the sand seeps down at a steady pace
I bend my thoughts in contemplation, challenging accepted insight
In deepest thought I am as time runs out, and there is no turning back now

THE FINAL END

As the way of the world unfolds amidst shattered hope
Encircled with no escape from imaginary death
I withdraw in regret that I didn't make the choice
When I had the chance to change the way of the world

BEYOND FATE

An awakened moment of revelation
Proceeded by times of revolution
In light of an excess phase
An era of time without space
Time and again I look beyond
Counting the chance of fate

Time and again I look beyond
Questioning chance of faith

I see the light of that sunny day
I feel the caress of love
I now know what ugliness is
I seem to recall

SILENCE IN DESPAIR

In splendor it lies before me
Awaiting my final return
Like a desolate moon
Floating around in nothingness
I am a wanderer, alone
In endless search for answers

I follow the sun
Through oceans of stars
Yet in this cold place of matter
Darkness prevails

I followed the sun
Through oceans of stars
Yet in this cold place of matter
Darkness prevailed

I return to the shadow
By which I am destined to dwell
Beginnings and ends are the same here
And everything else passes in silence