Christeen (Plus Four Demos)

***Christeen (Plus Four Demos)*** (stylized *Infinity ∞ Christeen (Plus Four Demos)*) is the first studio EP by Canadian musician Devin Townsend.

As it is leftover and unused material from the *Infinity* sessions, it was presumably recorded from April 1997 to August 1998 at Red Stripe Studios in British Columbia along with the full album.

## Hevydevy.com description

> *Nowadays, when I record too much music for a single disk, it comes out in double disks or bonus editions etc, but at the time, (without a label or management to guide), I would put out the bonus songs as things like this, or the 'Ass-Sordid' stuff. Japan wanted to make a video for Christeen with a famous photographer that ultimately got edited by someone other than him and was a disaster. The inclusion of the video, however, seemed an appropriate excuse for me to put the additional songs into one place that existed in tandem with the Infinity sessions. Some interesting stuff here, with the final song 'Love-Load' causing quite a ruckus among friends and band mates as being a horrible statement. A statement that distanced myself from the things that actually defined Infinity in the beginning. (Selfishness over community)*
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## Background

After the completion of Strapping Young Lad's extreme metal album *City* and his solo progressive rock release *Ocean Machine: Biomech*, Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown. "I started to see human beings as little lonesome, water based, pink meat, life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand." In 1997, he checked himself into a mental-health hospital, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from; he felt his disorder "gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping's *City* record and Ocean Machine's *Biomech*."[1]

After being discharged from the hospital, Townsend found that "everything just clicked" and he was able to write his third solo album, *Infinity*, which he described as "the parent project" of *City* and *Biomech*. Townsend returned to the studio, accompanied by drummer Gene Hoglan, to work on the album, on which Townsend played most of the instruments. During the recording sessions, Devin slept on the studio floor.[2] Townsend has claimed *Infinity* was partly inspired by experimentation with LSD and other psychedelic drugs.[3]

Due to these issues, the record took an extended amount of time to complete, going through two different mixing processes ("red" and "blue") before it was finished. Somewhere in this process, several songs were left out despite being intended for the original running order. These outtakes make up the extra material following "Christeen" on this EP.

## Music

*Christeen (Plus Four Demos)* features a mix of hard rock, ambient music, pop rock, and progressive metal, continuing the style of *Infinity*. While "Om" and "Sit in the Mountain" are full song demos, "Processional" is a compilation of short pieces strung together, and "Love-Load" is a remix of Unit:187 (despite being billed a "demo" on the sleeve).

"Om" was re-recorded and released on *Contain Us*. The "Infinite Waltz" section of "Processional" was reused for the end of "The Mighty Masturbator" from *Deconstruction*.

## Release

The EP was distributed in Canada by HevyDevy and in Japan by Sony.

## Track listing

All words and music by Devin Townsend except where noted.

1. "Christeen" (3:38) [Townsend, Ginger]
2. "Om (Demo)" (6:18) [Townsend, Ginger]
3. "Sit in the Mountain (Demo)" (3:16) [Townsend, Ginger]
4. "Processional (Demo)" (11:42)
"Star Child Rise"
"Welcome Home"
"Metamorph"
"Infinite Waltz"
5. "Love-Load" (5:01)

## Personnel

* Devin Townsend – vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, programming, production
* William Haymes, Inc - photography
* Kyoko Harada – photography

### Liner notes

> *What is music? What is its purpose? Why am I blessed and damned with the ability to hear colour and see sound? I do so because that is how I was born. It's that simple, and I make no claims to greatness, the only thing I claim is to love my own work. I have been given a gift... the gift of a glimpse of creation, and the ability to show it to my audience. A chance to say... HERE IT IS!!! ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL? And it's so simple. Art begins and ends with the artist and his audience, and the stage of my life that included the Infinity recordings ends with this EP. These demos were the scattered remains of the record, and I meant for them to be much more complete than how they ended up on this disc, but I am exhausted and have no money to finish them the way they should be heard. I hope you enjoy them none the less, and I'll see you very soon in a new stage of life that offers all new music...*
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> *Peace, love and music...*
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> *Devin and crew.*
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## External links

* *Christeen (Plus Four Demos)* on Discogs