 After the completion of City and Ocean Machine : Biomech , Townsend began to approach a mental breakdown . " I started to see human beings as little <unk> , water based , pink meat , " he explained , " life forms pushing air through themselves and making noises that the other little pieces of meat seemed to understand . " In 1997 , he checked himself into a mental @-@ health hospital , where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder . The diagnosis helped him understand where the two sides of his music were coming from ; he felt his disorder " gave birth to the two extremes that are Strapping 's City record and Ocean Machine : Biomech . " After being discharged from the hospital , Townsend found that " everything just <unk> " and he was able to write his third solo album , Infinity , which he described as " the parent project " of City and Ocean Machine : Biomech , with music influenced by Broadway . Townsend returned to the studio , accompanied by Hoglan , to work on the album , on which Townsend played most of the instruments . Infinity was released in October 1998 . Later in his career , Townsend has cited Infinity as his favorite solo record . 
