Roxas, exiled and ashamed, returns to the glade of his youth only to find it dead. The land is ruined, the flowers withered, the past gone. A voice in the shadows tempts him to disappear. But a single blooming oleander beneath the ash stops him. He gathers it, and walks home.

In Mercenarium, The Shade lets you teleport enemy units—forcing them into danger or disarray. In Dragonfruit, it means solitude, exile, and secrecy. It’s the chill of being alone. But its inversion is solidarity—as only those who know our pain can truly know us.

This is the shortest track on The Hymnal. Composed in a single session with Jason Kermit Jennings, it’s the album’s emotional low point. No hidden tone here. Just the weight of the world, and the sound of giving in—almost.

LYRICS

What have we here?
All on your own
A precious moment and
So far from home

Look in these bloodshot eyes, and see
Your destiny

Come sway in the shadows
Come stay in the glade
Respite from your travels
Come play, in the shade

The Shade

Cursory glance
To deliberate blinds
The realities of the knowing eyes
Pushed me to move
Rearrange a few lies
Love showered me in praise left me to dry

Prodigy child 
To prodigal son
The fascination in “be all but one”
Left me to be
Mediocre at some
Couldn’t take it alone
But couldn’t give up the gun

Now everything is so heavy
Heavy on my mind
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

Love of a child
To love for a day
The narrowing of life swept years away
Urged me to beg
Forgotten lives to stay
Memories are strong but not enough to sway

Now everything is so heavy
Heavy on my mind
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

And I could pretend the hurting wasn’t here
But closing both of my eyes it won’t make
All the weight disappear
And I could ask to lay my cross down for the day
But it can’t stop now
It couldn’t stop anyway
Could you help me carry it 
Could you help me carry it
Could you help me

‘Cause everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time
Wanna say I’m not ready
But time isn’t mine
Try to keep it steady
And hold on tight
But everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time

Everything is so heavy
Heavy all the time x4

Heavy

Mythic synthpop for the end of the world.

Anthromancer is the sonic wing of a transmedia myth created by Daniel James Drake—a fusion of game, oracle, and concept album. The debut LP, The Hymnal, scores the fall and rebirth of a fictional civilization, blending icy electronica with poetry into a 13-track spiritual epic.

Our sound is somewhere between The Postal Service, Muse, Aesop Rock, and Nobuo Uematsu, with shades of Röyksopp and our venerable RPG nostalgia. The sound is cinematic, existential, and driven by a hunger to be known.

Support the work through Patreon. Or just listen closely. The secrets are already in the songs.

The Shade

Anthromancer

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