House of Stone is a story told in six parts. The debut release, "House of Stone" serves as the overture for the narrative with five volumes of music, "Deaths I-V" serving as chapters of the saga.
CHARACTERS
BLACK SISTER
In age, she is the oldest sibling of the five by the same father. Their father laid down with the black sister when she was a child. She is the mother of the First Born, but has kept this a secret all of her life. The father is slain and his body burned atop a pyre. The burning is the first of its kind as forefathers were embalmed and buried whole. After mourners leave, she covers her skin with his ashes in mourning. She loved her father. He was her god. She hates her brother, the Second Sun for what he has done. Now, she is godless, fatherless, directionless and seeks only to look after her brother and son, the First Born until she can lay down and die beside her father.
LITTLE BROTHER
Born of a different mother, but of the same father as First and Second. Born homosexual. Because of his orientation, he is beaten by his father. He is cast out in his adolescence. Spends twenty years roaming the earth as a vagrant, prostituting himself for change. He discovers a lust for blood and death of the lovers he takes. Never knew his mother. As a young boy, his father ordered him to kill the first boy he fell in love with.
FIRST BORN
The oldest son of the father. Groomed, reared and raised to assume the throne. Trained to kill. He was beaten and whipped to make his body and mind strong. He became mute at the age of sixteen. Born a hermaphrodite. Does not want any of the responsibilities of the throne. He defers to his younger brother, Second Sun. He is feared by all, but depends on his brother, Second Sun for leadership.
SECOND SUN
Born by a different mother, but of the same father. Has a major inferiority complex. Very intelligent. Idealistic. His mother commits suicide when he is a teenager. Her death sends him over the brink, and he tries to kill himself with a .22. First Born saves his life. From the age of eighteen onward, he develops and exhibits a second personality, one who he relies on for guidance and reason. He develops his manifesto and plans to reform and resurrect his country and all that he believes it should be. He depends on his first-born brother for strength.
BLUE SISTER
The youngest child of the father. At the age of 9, her father tried to force intercourse on her, and when she resisted, he scarred her face with his knife, burning her right cheek, and cutting off her nose, so that no man would want her. Veiled in blue, she ran away from home by the cover of night. After twenty years, and with the death of the father, the Blue Sister returns, having forgiven him, and believes in the revival and resurrection of her country, in spite of what her father had done to her.
Initially, House of Stone is not set in any time period, nor does it find itself rooted in any place or culture, though, many references have been made implying that this place and its people belong to a future America, broken and reduced to a city-state located in the desert. The story begins with the death of the father, at the hands of his first-born son. For seven years, the Second Sun has plotted for his own ascension to his father’s throne. Their kingdom, a once great and feared nation, has gradually been reduced to a withering city-state whose land has been sold off, traded away, and her people demoralized by the outside World Union.
The kingdom is the last of its kind, a symbol of old-world ideas and place controlled by fear and acts of violence. The First Born and Second Sun are a co-dependent brotherhood in which one fulfills the needs of the other. Second Sun defers to First Born for brute strength and action. First Born defers to Second Sun for tactics, leadership, and will. The two brothers formed their allegiance to one another as adolescents, when Second Sun tried to take his own life and was saved by his brother, First Born. It was during this moment of trauma, that the Second Sun developed a second personality; a god-complex self which then fostered the weaker, more volatile Second Sun in the development of a new vision and destiny for himself and his country.
It is with this surrogate daughter, that he begins to speak again. The only other person who knows of this child, is the Black Sister, who watches over the well-being of her brother and son, First Born. She resolves to keep the child a secret from Second Sun. Both First Born and the Black Sister are loyal members of their house and have served their father up until his death. Now, they both begin to look inward, in an attempt to decipher and untangle the complex web of conflicting emotions as their fate unfolds before them.
During this time, news of their exploits spreads across the land and oceans, inevitably attracting the attention of the World Union, and also, the long lost Little Brother, third son of the father, cast out years ago to wander the land as a vagrant of shame and self-loathing. As tensions build due to failed acts of diplomacy by the WU, Little Brother returns home, his intentions unclear to him, but his unsavory lust dictating his actions all the while. He comes to his brothers only after talking with the Black Sister one night, and deciding to help them in their efforts to rebuild their country.
Hearing of her father’s death, the Blue Sister, youngest of the five also returns home. When she was a child, her father scared her face out of spite, when she would not submit to his intent to father a child by her. Under cover of darkness, she ran from home, and for twenty two years, travelled the earth, bottling her tears for the day when she could water the flowers on her fathers grave.
As an impending sense of doom grows, each sibling comes to terms with their suffering, seeking atonement, salvation, redemption, freedom, and death through their shared sense of fatalism.
Death I begins with the murder of the Father at the hands of his First Born and Second Sun. A plot years in the making is now enacted as the First Born slits his father’ throat with the ceremonial knife that was given to him on his thirteenth birthday. In the wake of his murder, the two brothers immediately begin the master plan of Second Sun to reclaim the land that was taken from them, and rebuild and resurrect their empire to the glory and power of its former state.
House of Stone: Death II resumes with The First Born and his elite warriors, the Hodogheh, crossing over their borders into the territory of a neighboring clan. The House of Stone begins their campaign to reclaim lands that were given away by their father to the Vergebian Union of Territories. In the aftermath of a brutal attack on a neighboring city, the First Born discovers a small girl of two years hiding in the ashes of her dead home. First Born takes the girl back with him and secretly raises the child as his own. He never knew his mother, and in his yearnings to have known her, becomes the mother of his dreams for this small child.
House of Stone: Death III resumes with the introduction of the third son, the Little Brother who returns home upon learning of his father's death. He was cast out as a child when his father found him with another boy. Because of this, he was made to drown his first love, thus, in his father's mind, he drowned the unholy lust that had found seed in his young heart.
This moment in the boy's life marked his fate, and in his years of wandering the plains, he found love in the death of the lovers he took, ashamed of what he could not control.
The Black Sister is awakened to find her youngest brother sitting in her room. As a child, he confided in her and now, he begins to speak with her again, this time, revealing the murderous legacy he had begun to write for himself.
Upon the return of the Little Brother, the Vergebian Union received the severed head in the court of their council. The head belonged to one of the 77 High Vergebians. A fatal mistake. The Vergebians dispatched their legions to destroy the House of Stone, sending along their general, one of the 77 High Vergebians, Vagus.
The Black Sister learns of this and becomes terrified, knowing of Vagus' reputation as an undefeated warrior. As the Vergebians advance, the First Born, Black Sister Little Brother and Second Sun prepare for the confrontation.
Morgan Sorne is a multi-dimensional enigma. A prolific visual artist, musician, actor and filmmaker, boasting a four octave vocal range with perfect pitch. He brings listeners to tears with his unparalleled hypnotic angelic falsetto, and has churned crowds into a rocking frenzy with his bone-rattling dynamicism and range. He has performed and played at some of the most prestigious venues in America, winning over the hearts and minds of audiences at Irving Plaza in New York, the legendary Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco and the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles.
- Critics say -
"It's as if Freddie Mercury, David Byrne, an early David Bowie, Afrika Bambaataa, and the Cure's Robert Smith had gotten together and had a baby. He (Morgan Sorne) is an enigma, chanting like an ancient tribesman, stomping like he's dancing for rain, and whirling like a helicopter, while his voice scales the ranges of the mesmerizing and hypnotic, to almost unnaturally Edith Piaf high notes."
Stephen Macmillan Moser of Austin Chronicle
“Nonconformist in nature, brilliant in execution. This is absolutely phenomenal in every sense of the word. Music cannot get more unique and authentic as this.”
A Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famer in the making, SORNE’s meteoric success has truly made him one to watch. He is destined for the world stage.
At the age of twenty-three, and within the first six months of relocating to Austin, he was one of the youngest emerging artists to represent contemporary art in Texas, chosen by Art in America for the Texas Biennial. He was one of sixty-three selected artists, beating out thousands of submissions by mid-career and veteran artists.
Having performed on the stage since the age of three, Morgan has passionately pursued his career at all levels, earning a BFA in studio art, and has achieved the critical acclaim of noteworthy musicians and creative titans of the performing arts. To date, he has received Avant Garde Artist of the Year by the Austin Music Awards, successfully funded and fulfilled a Kickstarter for his epic, six-album opera, House of Stone and was invited to perform at Art Basel in Miami.
In addition to his impressive live performances, SORNE has produced, directed, written and starred in multiple short films, including the critically acclaimed, “Children of the Black Mountain” which he filmed with a small crew in the deserts of West Texas.
So what is next for SORNE? With his sights set high, his driving passion, and his visionary ability propelling him onward and upward, he is destined to become an icon in the industry.
"It's as if Freddie Mercury, David Byrne, an early David Bowie, Afrika Bambaataa, and the Cure's Robert Smith had gotten together and had a baby. He (Morgan Sorne) is an enigma, chanting like an ancient tribesman, stomping like he's dancing for rain, and whirling like a helicopter, while his voice scales the ranges of the mesmerizing and hypnotic, to almost unnaturally Edith Piaf high notes."
Stephen Macmillan Moser of Austin Chronicle
"SORNE sounds of the future gawking at you with a gaping mouth, fearlessly and enveloped in mysticism. They will make you lose your mind."
Red River Noise
"A wonderful brand of twisted, deeply textured abstract pop. Sonically and conceptually it reaches beyond genre definition."
Bowlegs Music
"Nonconformist in nature, brilliant in execution. This is absolutely phenomenal in every sense of the word. Music cannot get more unique and authentic as this."
Sputnik Music
"A conceptual, wide screen epic that unfolds in shivering awe."
Doug Freeman of the Austin Chronicle
"Echoes of Tv on the Radios ghostly pop."
San Franciscos Bold Italic
"Sounds like Anthony and the Johnsons inhabiting the more esoteric realms of the Mars Volta."
Austin Powell of the Austin Chronicle
"Somewhere in the same realm as Yeasayers psychedelic pop."
Austin 360
"I definitely recommend going to the show and witnessing the otherworldly artistic performance for yourself."
OVRLD
"Theatrical creativity at its finest. This one deserves your complete attention."
The air is sour the light grows dimmer the road grows harder this life has lied to me of all things measured pure and of my own divinity as time wears on i find that I am scared an angst inside of me for what Ive done for what we are for what we cant stop hes gone now its ours he deserved every cut every cut and now its yours its always been yours
Far to the north far to the north over the mountains over the plains lives a family of five struggling violently to survive Im mute Im insane Im gay Im godless Im frightened we are the sacred and profane lift your hands and bow to my father he will burn your sins on the altar what is weak? what is strong? fuck your rights and fuck all your wrongs ten thousand years of beating our child hiding bruises whose pollution grows wild sucking air feeding this dream were down on our knees waiting for the day when the bodies of our debt will rise and rip you from your cross from the smoke and the fog of your name the sun has come and killed the father and nailed his god upon the altar we are the sun and we are the father for we will kill everything that we honor in this house of stone
I can't believe my eyes I can't believe my eyes when will your laughter shed its light on broken grounds? When will your laughter shed its light on me? hahaha hahaha hahaha oh my god
We are the last of our tribe of our name hungry wolves westward bound weve shed our locks of love and rage laying bone-naked in the sun-soaked liberty of a numb and desperate minimum wage I kill without question its easier that way cloaked in thorns nervously gnawing on my shame and suffering trained to kill everything what have I done? I slit my fathers throat with the knife that he gave to me and the promise of his throne what have I become? I tried to be a man I cover my skin with paint and blood and kill upon command what have I done? my mind is my tomb Ive given my thone to my next of kin as I wait here in my room I want to evolve Ill suffer in secret its easier that way its easier that way
in the night I dream of dying in the night I see the lightning in my sleep I hear the calling in his wake the Sun is rising
and I will be! And I will be! And I will be! Your Leader! And all will know the ageless name that will remain we are the one-eyed king we are the sun that brings death from above sweet dreams we are the one-eyed king now I see brother's keeper
house of stone grief of greed pentameccagon feed my need all for one none for all all in vein silent fall strip down man up suck in bite hard hold in don't cry yes sir! Shut your mouth and eat your young when I was thirteen years old my father gave me a gun my father gave me his knife my father told me to run into a starlit valley to find the place of their sleep and bring back their severed heads and bring back their severed feet my father trained me to kill and beat me hard to be strong and hid that I was born with the sex of a boy and a girl when I turned sixteen years old I uttered nary a word and was known as the mute prince who brought down swift death from above manifest destiny first-born sun king supreme scars of strength alpha seed dog-eat-dog paternity cycle of suicide god-hardened heart beat your child with the books of the dead all is well take your place and eat your young
in my dreams I can walk on water and by the night I fly above the raging water and clutch the key by which I see a place of peace so scared to feel this pain as I wake from this sweet dream light as it grows deep within me blood as it flows from a black sea oh my star of light please protect me
so unable to maintain this a heavy iron mask of age old myth and fable I wish I knew you beloved mother and In my dreams I wash your feet with blood and water and clutch the key by which I see a place of peace so scared to feel this pain as I wake from this sweet dream light as it grows deep within me blood as it flows from a black sea oh my star of light please protect me
i will rise up like a thunderbird i will scorch the sky with fire eyes rolled back and mouth wide open one fell swoop i will burn down this W H I T E W A L L W A S T E L A N D oh sweet death give birth to beauty oh sweet death scythe of fury oh swing low sweep your mercy over wounded weakened landscapes may we be your waves of fury one by one we will burn down this W H I T E W A L L W A S T E L A N D one by one we will light up the candles in our humble hands one by one we will raise up the colors of our golden clan one by one we will cut out the cancer cells of man one by one we will burn down this W H I T E W A L L W A S T E L A N D
Seven highways stretch out straight from my pride and from my hate seven highways stretch out across the land going nowhere going nowhere seven highways stretch out straight from my house and from my name seven highways stretch out across the land going nowhere going nowhere going nowhere going... America! I know you filled with blood eyes of blue America! I love you come clean with me please come true My Jericho! I loathe you as your sun I owe you My Fatherland! I now rule king supreme I have a dream
i silently wander through what remains and feel the chill of a light ashen rain beautiful boy peace has released you from grief and joy gut shot soldier no one hears you when you fall gut shot soldier you remain nameless after all precious boy in a tattered costume stitched from the remains of ancient countries and ancient warriors unknown and unnamed gut shot soldier no one hears you when you fall gut shot soldier you remain nameless after all
i recall you angel of death passing over and consuming my kin i tried to hid from you angel of death but you found me in the rubble and ruin i tried to evade you angel of death but you found me in the house you tore down please don't eat me alive like you ate my mother angel of death you lifted me up from my hiding place with your hand on my throat through the ice of your eyes i could see your pain as it seeped through the cracks and poured down your face as you drew me in closer i could feel your silent heart cry merciful golden warrior i remember how you held me tenderly like a mother as the rain fall washed away the ashes i clung to you as we took flight please don't eat me alive like you ate my mother please don't eat me alive like you ate my father
And ye shall succumb to the sleep of eternity as the Second Sun Ill become your chosen one I can taste the marrow of your bones with every breath as I drown the sound of your death out of my head for I shall come and rescue our name through vengeful grace your world of pillars bricks and bones will crumble into the night this is my time to cleanse our land of your pagan reign and lead us into a golden age to resurrect and uphold the names of honored fathers who paved the way I cleanse us of the soot of your sin and part the sea of the shame were in Ill never ever give up my truth Ill never ever give it back to you and I have a WHOOOO! vivid erection and I have a big imagination and so I take my throne eyes of light all is well
oh father when i was a boy i tried to stop you from beating on my brother who had failed to please you i trembled as i faced you and stood against your will oh father how i hate you oh father hit me again
? ! A L L I S W E L L ! ?
fragile fractured frame now i stand split in two a house of cards divided whose life was shunned by you but now i hold the scepter and i have heard the call to mend my broken family and take back our land once and for all
now i have drawn the line with the blood of my abuser and you will bow before us every day to the end of time
brother son you will never know my name or how i gave birth to you in this palace of the plains among the mountains upon the veins and by the father of our great and sacred name father dear i still hold the leaves of the fields where your trees yet bear their fruit as you smolder upon the fire and with your passing i hold your fire and cover my flesh in the soot of your sacred skin first born son how i wish to braid your hair and hold you as my child
in a safe and peaceful place far away from our sacred name
the bloodstar is rising inside of me i see through eyes of ash and rain when you took your life i broke my brain in two and ascended renewed and resurrected the blood star is rising inside of me brother revived me from the sleep of death of bullet wounds and broken dreams father you left me in the shadow of the sun your precious first born chosen one and overlooked and undersold and overspent and over controlled and undermined the legacy the sacred name the destiny and failed to see the rising of the blood star that rises inside of me i want my mommy the blood star is rising inside of me
Silent silent silent fall nothing sacred exists at all say goodbye to the mountain side say goodbye to the lions cry say goodbye to the trees and the breeze of the ancient ancient ancient days and with soot-covered crystal eyes she leapt out upon silver skies and I wept for my mothers fragility fading gently with the rain silent silent silent fall nothing sacred exists at all and I wish dearly to believe that the cloth of your corpse is real and that youll ascend from the sand and save me from their pagan hands oh how I want my mother this night stripped bare and alive silent silent silent fall nothing sacred exists at all
i am your third son you named me serpent and cast me out i slipped into a sea of blood and bones and love and lust you called my love a lie and for thirty years I choked that love to death you called me evil and you turned your back on me but this feels like i am so alive
we have gone too far we have crossed a line and can’t turn back i can feel them coming tremors of our fate beneath my feet time is a circle growing smaller and the hour is late our kingdom is lost the war is waged, we fired the first shot
oh foolish children! playing mindless games with broken brains you have wakened a monster you know nothing of what you have ordained now death is our master he will stretch out his hand and erase our name the sweat of our fathers all hope for a golden future is in vain
all in vain all in vain all in vain iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
i keep dreaming of free-falling into darkness trails of tears follow me i can not believe this our house of stone will wash away i cannot believe this your house of cards will fall away i cannot believe this our house of stone will wash away
i am your third son you named me serpent and cast me out i slipped into a sea of blood and bones and love and lust you called my love a lie and for thirty years I choked that love to death you called me evil and you turned your back on me but this feels like i am so alive when i was a boy i fell in love with a boy when i was a boy
it felt so good inside of me when you found and favored me sacred healing of my need make me bleed
i recall the way you felt in my youth i found your breath and burst alive as silverlight upon the soothing rain of night
but i was taught to fear and kill you in my heart i seek your skin this night
when i was a boy i was driven away to roam the roads of america in search of a love that was real
oh i love him
in my dreams you ascend from the sea of broken bones and blood-stained sheets we heal our scars by the salt of our tears and lay our sex in the grace of the night and we fly by the starlight
in here it's
so bright and clear full moon rise and light my skin sister i must confide in the grace of your quiet mind for i am alive and aligned as the blood soaks through the sheets of death by candle light and consumes my lover's breath of life and inhales his spirit's final sigh and denies him of the afterlife
oh my eldest sister please help me exorcise this demon
you were the mother that i never had you washed the wounds given to me by our dad
now he's gone and i am lost in the shame of my cursed name as my hungry ghost consumes the victims of my lust
in a desperate dance in which i must feed the need as my soul turns to rust and grows darker like the day to dusk oh my eldest sister please heal me set me free from this demon
do you remember how i
ran away from home to find my way can you recall how you taught me to drown the bird i found one day i can remember how you looked at me in spite of all the tears i cried in your name i can recall the whispered words of the fragile boy that i drowned on that day
this is a part of me this is a part of me why do you hate me lama sabachtani this is a part of me this is a part of me dad please embrace me lama sabachtani eloi eloi lama sabachtani
my god my god what do you hate in me i am just another person looking for love but i am denied a seat at your table i am the homeless the evil your shaman of snakes
this is a part of me why do you hate me lama sabachtani this is a part of me dad please embrace me lama sabachtani eloi eloi lama sabachtani
please embrace me please just hold me this is a part of me dad please embrace me lama sabachtani eloi eloi
God bless you my blue coyote with your lonesome drunken howl death spared you from doom my lovely lonely blue and broken boy you oh you were true and were right the night you tried to take your life with your gun you cried save woah woah woah! oh oh oh oh dearest friend the night has not gone just yet blue dawn is blooming as it breaks as it grows and as it flows across the land across our lives and sheds its light and if it be our lot to die then die we shall come what may upon desert plains of vacant loves we say save me woah woah woah! save me
Came to me in the dead of a pagan night with tidings of a boy in the name of a god came in me at the end of a pagan age with tidings of the end of an ancient reign brother dear in the spite of your angry zeal you killed our father here in the name of a god godless I see the end of the ageless days and search our land in vain for a hiding place I saw you in my sleep Ancient of Days Beautiful like tears of rain and dangerous black mountain pain I hear your voice inside my eyes and so I travel north to my fathers grave to stand beside the boy with the name of a god brother dear in the night of this pagan day I shall defend our name for the sake of your god father I hear your voice calling me home
Silver soldier blue and golden growing older growing colder feels the landslide rolling over baby bones and ancient thunder then the starlight ate my mother swept the landside white with dead light I hear the voices of the ageless huge and faceless dark and graceless ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh I am a mountain! I am a mountain! Im not a human I am a mountain! Deep in the distance echos and phantoms drink from my fountain blood of blue howls and as I grow older I weep no longer death is my mother her will grows stronger deep in the distance songs of my fathers whisper through my mouth louder and louder ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh now I see never was made for you never was made for me now I see ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh ohohohohohoh ohohohohohohoh
i'm waiting for my love to come to find me today lay me with you guild me in gold peel back my skin bury my bones
i pray unto a fallen star who long ago was dead i pray unto a star whose light still shines upon my bed i pray unto my fallen fathers ghost upon my bed and lay beside his ashes praying that he rise again and i'm waiting
for my love to come to find me today lay me with him guild me in gold peel back my skin bury my soul
I drowned myself in the river and walked away down silver canyon trails to ease the pain as I take you inside I will make you bleed I will sate my need I wont let you go I wont let you NO. You named me well the shaman of snakes your third son, Viedriel Close your eyes lay your head back as I take you inside Call me evil GO. Call me stupid Ohhh. Think Im funny? Yeah? Go ahead, boy LAUGH. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WOAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WOAH I drowned myself in the blood of my lust close your eyes take your last breath as I take you inside.
I wanted to scream today but I cant keep time and I missed my chance to howl needlessly at the roots and nails of your hungry dance I wanted to save you from the knife you drew to pierce his throat Im feeling overwhelmed by the sacred signs that adorn my hands lupine blue light rain on me golden death chant set me free oh my star when will your laughter shed its light on the broken grounds of this blue and broken night can you hear the mantra of a thousand voices of steel humming as one as the prophets had forseen golden death chant set me free white skin eyes closed with a silent smile and a golden pledge to that which never runs ooooooooooh rolling thunder here we go golden death chant set me free
I wont ask for this I wont ask you for this I wish I could wash your feet and heal you you are my golden star how great you are my sacred heart how beautiful you are great unstable house of stone youre all I know you are my golden star how great you are my sacred heart how beautiful you are I wont ask for this I wont ask you to leave behind your dreams for the sake of peace you are my House of Stone I cling to you please dont let go youre all I know great unstable house of stone youre all I know you are my golden star how great you are my sacred heart how beautiful you are
I am here now so listen for the last time listen to my voice as I call your name the road is getting darker up ahead the water is getting higher I reach out for your hand now to lead you through the murk dont lose your smile and hold me for we are the sun and we are the one we are the one we are the one we are the one we are the one NO ONE EVER TELLS ME NO! no one ever tells me no no one ever... youre so dear to me I cant go with you get out while you can Ill be here watching over you you were the light for me you taught me how to speak when Im gone sing your song for me guilded golden chant of death crown of thorns upon my head I am First Born Son and King and heir to Fathers reign supreme and I will fight for you and I will fight I will die for you I will give my life for you oh my god goodbye oh cruel world goodbye oh my love goodbye oh my child goodbye
