Blood of the Air is based on the poetry and speech melodies of Surrealist poet Philip Lamantia. It celebrates the spontaneous natural music of the spoken word and a freedom of imagination usually relegated to dreams.

Philip Lamantia (1927–2005), whose mystical work is noted for its wild imagery, is widely considered America’s greatest Surrealist poet. He was mentored by Kenneth Rexroth and was closely associated with the Beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Michael McClure. In his youth, Lamantia was recognized by André Breton as “a voice that rises once in a hundred years.”