Fugues - podcast cover

Fugues

Gabriel Berezinfugues.simplecast.com
***New episodes coming soon!*** What is Fugues? The quick answer - it’s The Moth with neuroscience and music (and a bit of sci-fi...) A fugue, conventionally, is: (1) a piece of music with multiple melodies played at the same time and... (2) a trance state where a person experiences amnesia, and loses their sense of self. Both uses of the word have a beginning, middle and end. Taking a bit of license, each story we tell in this podcast will be called a fugue. And each fugue will illustrate a handful of mental ingredients. A fugue will also refer to any temporary mental state one is in. For example, you are currently in a podcast description-reading fugue. Hosted by Gabriel Berezin, some fugues will be autobiographical, others are contributions from special guests. ***Episodes 1, 2, and 5 are great places to start!***
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Episodes

Remember I Adore You

The Fugues fiction expedition ventures into romcom territory - or maybe anti-romcom? Remember I Adore You began as a TV pilot my writing partner Natasha Schwartz and I wrote years ago. We loved the script so much we adapted it for audio and produced it ourselves with talented musician and actor friends, recording it live. It’s half table read, half audio drama. Based on a true story, we subverted the "will they/won't they" trope to focus on how relationships can become more meaningful after roma...

Jun 17, 202526 minEp. 16

Heal Thyself

The next evolutionary step of free will? This is an excerpt from a series called Audiocorpse. It's inspired by Exquisite Corpse, a game where participants take turns writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, folding it to conceal their contribution, and then passing it to the next player for the next contribution. It became popular in the 1920s when it was adopted as a technique by artists of the Surrealist (Dada) movement to generate collaborative compositions. In Audiocorpse (sponsored by All Th...

May 27, 20253 minEp. 14

Field Trip

This teacher and her class are learning all about earth in the 50s. -- Take a close look at this episode’s thumbnail. This image (cartoonified for the purposes of this post) was the prompt for a recent Fugues submission to Audio Flux. We were challenged to create something in “3-D” audio. In other words, it should make use of spatial audio or stereo to give a sense of the space. Developed, written, and voiced by Gabriel Berezin and CG Foisy. Production, mixing and sound design by Gabriel Berezin...

May 13, 20253 minEp. 15

A Morality Rat Tale

Look I’m not gonna get all gloomcore about the state of things in the world, but it does seem that our appreciation of morality has waned a bit in the last few years. It had me thinking of this one funny (and traumatic) memory from college. Recounting it made me wonder - is it better or worse to have morals? This little tail tale has me reconsidering long held beliefs. (PS - this is basically an audio snuff film, just warning you now, it's...graphic in parts.) -- Written and narrated by Gabriel ...

Apr 29, 20255 minEp. 13

100 Ways to Get Over a Breakup

If you’re going through a breakup right now, stop what you’re doing and listen to this, I think it will help. This is Fugues’ first guest contributor, Mae Nagusky. She wrote, produced and performed this great piece of audio - it’s a brilliant series of tips to manage painful breakup fugues. Mae releases her podcast in June, 2025. Keep an eye out! -- Follow Fugues: Substack | Instagram | TikTok...

Apr 15, 20258 minEp. 12

Lulu's First Mix Tape

When you have young children, the well-meaning, unsolicited advice flows. "Enjoy the moment, be present!" “It goes by so fast, cherish everything,” but also “don’t worry so much!” It feels like trying to grab a river with your bare hands. This short episode originated from a project I love called AudioFlux, they post open calls for audio submissions with specific prompts (1) focus on “firsts” (2) convey the idea of time passing without a ticking clock (3) keep the length to exactly three minutes...

Oct 22, 20243 minEp. 11

Was I Dreaming When I Wrote This?

For anyone unsure if a recent memory was a dream or reality - come on down! YOU’re (kind of) the next contestant on…”WAS! I! DREAMING!?” This episode is the crossover between Waking Life (Richard Linklater), The Game (David Fincher) and The Price is Right (Bob Barker) that absolutely no one asked for. In a post-reality world maybe it’s a good idea to test our boundaries a bit more. Odds are you won’t remember this show, but if you do - I sincerely hope you won’t remember whether it actually happ...

Oct 02, 202417 minEp. 10

Dream Grief (with Brian Cox)

Almost at the same time, my family experienced a loss I feared my whole life and a new addition I’d fantasized about for decades. And I had a dream as it unfolded that was so clear I wrote down every detail after I woke up. Actually it was more like dream theater. And this theatrical production’s imagery and characters were scripted by grief, memory, and anticipation. I’m pretty sure this little one-act was trying to tell me something, or at least Brian Cox was (obviously he was there). A new in...

Aug 21, 202423 minEp. 9

The Mosquito in Me

The age old question. Does empathy cure personal beef? Actually from a butcher’s perspective that’s no good. Curing actually preserves beef. Nevermind, nevermind... I had a psychedelic experience with a mosquito that reminded me of an aggressive driver. It may, or may not have, changed my life. Do I have to anthropomorphize EVERYthing? -- CREDITS: Written, produced and performed by Gabriel Berezin . Script editing and Lady Inner Mosqutio voiceover by Melissa "Monty" Montan . Opening and closing ...

Jul 30, 20247 minEp. 8

An Asshole Walks Into a Group Meditation | 3

The Reveal. Find out how this Mediclub experience ends. The Assholes push the outer limits of the ASS scale. (What geminis!) They stumble on unexpected terrain, questioning the very nature of reality. This is Part 3 of 3. -- Credits: Written and produced by Gabriel Berezin . Original music by Santiago Arias-Rozo . Opening and closing music by Monuments (featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar)) Script editing and voiceover by...

Oct 27, 202224 minEp. 7

An Asshole Walks Into a Group Meditation | 2

In part 2 of Assholes, the immersive story of the Mediclub experience continues with three more fugues. The Asshole co-hosts review the similarities between meditation, marijuana and the right hemisphere of your brain. Then you'll see if 12-step programs fit or (don't fit) into the event. Most importantly you'll find out what Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” has to do with the most under-appreciated part of your brain. All culminating in a new and surprising ASS score. See how deep these assholes go! ...

Oct 20, 202230 minEp. 6

An Asshole Walks Into a Group Meditation | 1

Ever been to a group meditation? How did you feel? Third eye open and a blissful permagrin? Or awkward and self conscious? Fugues is back with a new talk show that measures gullibility and skepticism using a powerful scale. This new spectrum is defined by Larry David, Woody Harrelson, Betty White, Bill Murray and cats (not the musical). Gabe and his Inner voice co-host discuss the neurological and psychological mental phenomena activated during a Brooklyn meditation retreat. Find out what a Burg...

Oct 11, 202224 minEp. 5

Keeper of the Peace Officer | Fate and Biology | 3

How does increased power impact human minds? It’s almost not someone’s fault if empathy wanes while power accumulates. In fact, it’s basically inevitable. Joe Smarro, one of the subjects of the HBO documentary, "Crisis Cops: Ernie and Joe," is an exception to the rule. Joe is a police officer and trainer who gives a Master Class in how to sidestep fate when encountering people in crisis. We hear a few fugues from Joe illustrating what it's like to be a cop in these situations. And we give it the...

Sep 15, 202145 minEp. 4

Bonding, for Better or Worse | Fate & Biology | 2

Why do we help strangers? And why do we love revenge stories so much? The same thing that connects those questions connects us all - bonding. There’s an invisible line between groups of people - it can be a thin dotted line between acquaintances, a steel girder between mother and child, or a series of chain links between millions of people in the same country. In Part 2 of this series on fate and biology, we identify the brain chemical that plays a central role in how we bond, and explore why ce...

Jun 11, 202131 minEp. 3

The Brain's Molotov Cocktail | Fate & Biology | 1

You ever get in a fight? I did. Once. Wearing my Red Sox hat at Yankee Stadium. Me (and two Yankees fans) were basically high on an aggressive cocktail of brain chemicals that forced our collective hand. Stupid, pointless violence with strangers that almost cost me an eye. This episode’s fugue will describe the experience, followed by Inner Voice and I doing a post-fugue analysis. Together we’ll review the ingredients of a lethal cocktail that drove me into a dangerous, seemingly unavoidable sit...

Apr 06, 202117 minEp. 2

Why So Irrational?

Why are we so prone to bad logic? We’re going to hear two everyday fugues in this episode: the search for a lost spatula and a spilled beer. The real story here is how easy it is to be irrational. Who is “we” in this episode? It’s me and my inner voice obviously. Inner Voice and I will do some post-fugue analysis to find out what mental phenomena are at play while I make really bad assumptions about events in my surroundings. By the end of the episode maybe you’ll appreciate why we’re actually d...

Feb 10, 202116 minEp. 1

Trailer

What's a fugue? In this podcast it's a story - a story that sheds light on how our conscious experience of any given moment operates. Find out what each fugue tell us about the basic ingredients of mind. -- Credits: Written, produced and hosted by Gabriel Berezin. Music and sound design by Grant Zubritsky and Monuments . Logo and art design by Justin Montan. Follow Fugues on Twitter and Instagram....

Feb 01, 20215 min
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