Hypnogaja (pronounced hip-nō-gä-zhä) is an American rock band from Los Ange… Read Full Bio ↴Hypnogaja (pronounced hip-nō-gä-zhä) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, CA. The group is comprised of vocalist Jason “ShyBoy” Arnold., keyboardist Mark Nubar Donikian, drummer Adrian Barnardo, bassist Bryan Farrar and guitarist Abe Parker.

Founded by Arnold and Donikian in 2000, Hypnogaja originated as an electronic studio project with early collaborator, keyboardist Sean "Dr." Brooks. As a live show began to develop, members and collaborators were added to the fold, including Grammy award nominated guitarist/producer Jean-Yves "Jeeve" Ducornet. Hypnogaja's sound evolved into new dimensions with the incorporation of rock influences into the group's initial electronic foundation. The band tours consistently and has performed shows to audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has opened for bands such as Shinedown, Saliva, 311, Cold and many others.

Grammy nominated songwriter Wendy Waldman helmed production duties for Hypnogaja's live acoustic album, Acoustic Sunset: Live At The Longhouse. The band previously collaborated with Waldman on two songs - "Killing Time" and "Outside, Looking In" - from the album "Post-Hypnotic Stress Disorder". The latter song was featured as the end title of the NBC Movie "Carrie" a remake of the Brian DePalma film based on the classic Stephen King novel.

Hypnogaja's latest studio recording, Truth Decay, was released by Union State Records in June 2009. The fourteen-track, science fiction-tinged concept album includes the song "Welcome To The Future," featuring Richard Dodd of The Section Quartet on cello. The album was released to strong reviews, including a 9 out of 10 star rating from Outburn Magazine, which noted it as an "expertly crafted album." The LP's first single, "The March," spawned a music video directed by ASC Award-winning cinematographer Nelson Craggand and writer/producer Marius Markevicius

Various television shows, motion pictures and soundtracks have featured Hypnogaja’s music, including America’s Next Top Model, Carrie, Cold Creek Manor, Dirt , Las Vegas, One Life To Live, Roswell, Sex And The City, Tru Calling, Valentine and many others.

Author Frank Beddor featured Hypnogaja's Alice in Wonderland-themed song, "Looking Glass" (from the Below Sunset album) on the soundtrack for the audio book version of his 2006 NY Times Best Seller, The Looking Glass Wars. In 2007, the Warner Bros. Interactive game, FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage, used the band's song "They Don't Care" (another track from Below Sunset), which was also placed - that same year - as the theme song for the Versus network's Red, White, Black and Blue Summer promo trailer. In 2008, Hypnogaja frontman, ShyBoy, co-wrote and performed two songs ("The Time Has Come" and "Shall Never Surrender") featured in the Capcom video game, The Devil May Cry 4 (the latter track appearing as the game's end title and both songs appearing on the accompanying, official Sony Music soundtrack). In 2009, Tapulous featured the Hypnogaja song "Things Will Never Be The Same" (from the Truth Decay LP) in the iPhone and iPod touch game, Tap Tap Revenge 3.

Several technology companies have featured Hypnogaja's music in noteworthy articles and promotional materials, and have invited the band to participate in events. Apple computers posted an in-depth interview and story on the band's experience in using Macs in the realms of recording, touring and promotion. AOL Music's Noisecreep property featured an interview with Hypnogaja about the concept behind Truth Decay, and offered an exclusive, free download of the song, "Worship Me (I'm On TV)." Microsoft Windows featured free downloads of two songs from Truth Decay - "Rusty Moon" and "Cellar Door" - on promotions tied to its Windows 7 release, including a slot in the January 2010 Windows Media Guide.

Hypnogaja performed at the first annual 140tc (Twitter Conference), held in Los Angeles in September 2009. In consideration of the band's success in utilizing social networking to grow its fan base (Hypnogaja has reached over one million followers on the site), keyboardist Donikian was invited to serve as one of the speakers during the conference's music panel, which also included Chamillionaire, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears and several notable music industry executives. The band rounded out 2009 with a Best Alternative Artist win at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, performing "Welcome To The Future" at the November awards ceremony. In November 2010, Arnold won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Male Vocal for his performance of the Donna Summer classic hit, "On the Radio," (released in January 2010 by Union State Records as the bonus track on the Hypnogaja digital 45, Welcome to the Future / On the Radio).

Hypnogaja's current lineup of Arnold, Donikian, Barnardo (member since 2004), Farrar (member since 2008) and Parker (member since 2009) performed an official showcase at SXSW '10 in Austin, TX and the group continues to tour and perform webcasts consistently. In July 2010, the band appeared on the debut episode of the web series, Stripped Down Live with Curt Smith (of Tears for Fears). On February 15, 2011, Union State Records is scheduled to release a new Hypnogaja digital EP entitled Dark Star which will contain a remix of the song "Dark Star" (featuring Slimkid3 of The Pharcyde). Later in 2011, there are plans to release Arnold's debut solo album (under the name ShyBoy) as well as plans to start recording a new Hypnogaja studio album.

Unspoken
Hypnogaja Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I see it in your eyes
The way you feel inside
Your idea of me
Is all that I can be

You can talk your fears away
There's still something that you just won't say

And the silence is broken
But the words are unspoken

Why are you afraid?
Is that how you were made?
All that I can be
Is more than you can see

And you can't hide the truth
I can see it in you
And the silence is broken
But the words are unspoken

You don't have to say a thing
Your face says everything

There's no way to hide
All the hatred inside

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Hypnogaja's song Unspoken describe a situation where one person can sense the insecurities and fears of the person they are interacting with through their eyes and facial expressions. Despite being able to sense the hurt, the person is unwilling to express their emotions verbally. The singer encourages the other person to release their fears by being open and honest about their feelings. The silence may be broken, but the words remain unspoken.

The singer is confident that they are more than what the other person perceives them to be, and encourages them to see beyond the mask they wear. However, the person being addressed continues to bottle up their emotions, burying them deep inside them. The singer is able to detect the inner turmoil the person is grappling with, and though they don't have to say it, their face says everything. In short, the song is about the difficulty of expressing oneself and being vulnerable, and the emotional toll it can take on a person.

Line by Line Meaning

I see it in your eyes
I can sense your true feelings through your eyes

The way you feel inside
Your internal struggle is visible to me

Your idea of me
You have certain expectations from me

Is all that I can be
I can only strive to meet your expectations

You can talk your fears away
You try to overcome your fears by talking about them

There's still something that you just won't say
However, there are still some fears that you are unable to express

And the silence is broken
Although there is no verbal communication, there is understanding

But the words are unspoken
The true feelings remain unexpressed

Why are you afraid?
What is causing your fears?

Is that how you were made?
Is this a part of your inherent nature?

All that I can be
I cannot change who I am