Released in 2009, I’m still trying to explain myself how "The Universe Expands" came to be. Not having a clear or finalized picture of what I was seeking to create, I put down various ideas, dressed them with sounds and improvised on top of them. In fact improvisation was key also in the way we recorded the vocals with Kortessa who would zone out listening to the instrumentals and come up with all sorts of strange phrases and emotions. For a control-freak like me, this composition approach was novel.

The theme behind "The Universe Expands" is that of the manifestation of the soul, the expansion of our inner cosmos and the evolution of our self-awareness. I wrote all the lyrics in my loneliest moments while serving my army time in the island of Lemnos and I feel the final product is one of the deepest I have yet produced.

A highlight of the album was my cooperation with the phenomenal artist Werner Hornung for the artwork and photo-manipulations. His quote “The better you look, the more you see” fits perfectly both the music, art and my philosophy behind Dol Theeta.