A short and somewhat different arrangement of my "Forest Dance" track which I made for a Shakespearean play. 

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Artwork designed and photographed by @Kalipluche

Forest Dance Prelude

As an experiment I composed a song with only a guitar and pen and paper. The idea was to create something simple, yet catchy and relatable. Since I am really big on prioritising my time and energy in order to do what's truly important in life, I decided to write about it. 

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Mixed / Mastered by @Michett
Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

LYRICS:


I'm late for work, it's not the first time but
I'm pretty sure I don't get fired if
I give it my best and work a little bit
longer than the rest before I call it a...

day after day, just throwing my life away until
I become just like my office dull and gray
There must be another way for me but I guess
things will get better eventually... maybe...

Someday I'm gonna shake things up and change my ways
Someday I'm gonna change my life and  choose to face whatever comes
tomorrow I'll go far away, from this drag wich feels so hollow. and I will...
follow my heart, yes tomorrow I will start living for living for tod... well someday...


It's friday afternoon, which means I'm done with
my work pretty soon and I'll be playing on the
beach with my dog, and go for a relaxing barefoot walk
untill the sun goes...

...down the hallway comes a frowned faced man, oh it's my boss 
asking me to work overtime today.
I just wanna play with my dog in the sand but in the 
end I tell my boss "okay, I'll stay"... I guess my plans can wait till...

...some other day I'm gonna shake things up and change my ways
Someday I'm gonna change my life and... wait, wait, wait...


Wait a minute, just yesterday, I said tomorrow I would surely schange my ways but I'm done making lists of "important things to do", right now my life starts with a new list called "important things today!"

Today I’m gonna shake things up and change my ways
Today, I'm gonna change my life and this time I won't wait because though
tomorrow may seem far away but finally I know that to
follow my heart means taking plans and make a start with them today.

Someday

Inspired by renaissance composers such as John Dowland, I wanted to create something in that style myself. It starts out with a few intertwining melodies, but then developes into a rhythmic Spanish dance. I recorded the lute part on my midi guitar, and the guitar and castanets are recorded live. To enhance the experience of this track, serve it with paella.

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Artwork designed and photographed by @Kalipluche

Renaissance In Andalusia

Imagine an emperor playing the lyre in his quarters. He plays a tune he composed himself. Over the years this tune has become so popular among his people that it is sung sometimes in the street. As part of a national celebration, people are gathered on the town square below the balcony of the emperor and start singing the Empire's Anthem. That's roughly the atmosphere I was going for in this track. It also reminds me a bit of the older Age of Empire games, which I also like for it's soundtrack.

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Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

The Empire's Anthem

I wanted to compose a haunting soundtrack for a game or movie that doesn't exist. What I envisioned was a fellowship of adventurers who are on a challenging quest to obtain a magical artifact from a cave. The adventurers know the stories of the creatures living there, yet they have to descent deeper and deeper into the cave in hope of finding what they are looking for. 

The term "hidden people" is used a lot in Iceland. Many Icelandic people believe there is some kind of fairy folk that resides in various places around the landscape. These creatures are not your average Disney fairies and many stories include common people disappearing after an mysterious encounter with one of these "hidden people".

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Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

Lair Of The Hidden People

Inspired by pirate, musketeer, and other period films, I decided to write a composition in baroque style. I'm far from an expert in this genre but I did learn new interesting things about counterpoint and ornamentation which will most certainly come in handy when writing other historic inspired compositions.

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Artwork by @Kalipluche

Frills And Quills

A young man ventures into the unknown and embarks on a generic journey. After a long fight with a somewhat realistic looking monster, he is victorious and finds the treasure... or... you could use this track in your own project and make your movie or game sound more adventurous or heroic. As long as you mention my name, I'm fine with that :)

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Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

The Great Adventure

The idea for this track was to create something simple in the famous Egyptian Hijaz scale. But after seeing enough documentaries about how the pyramids where probably built by a way-older-than-the pharaohs-culture I decided to give it a slightly different, more mysterious sound. 

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Artwork by @Kalipluche

The Pyramid Prophecy

While making a cover of the ancient Greek tune "Seikilos' Song" I discovered it was composed in an interesting sounding ancient scale. I started improvising melodies on that scale and decided to make an ambient track out of it. All melodies in this track are improvised, yet inspired by ancient Greek music with a bit of a soundtrack feel to it. Ideal for those who like background music when studying or relaxing but want the music to bring them into a somewhat mystic ancient atmosphere. Relax and enjoy!

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Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

The Mixolydian Muse

This is the oldest (±100 BC) complete song ever found! And of course it's Greek, because a whole lot of culture came from that place. Now more than 2 millennia later I've decided to make an instrumental cover of this track. I usually find music in the major key not very interesting but this tune is in mixolydian mode, so it sounds happy but different, ancient at the same time. Originally this was a song sang at a banquet and had lyrics about how short life is and that you do best to be happy. I tried to convey that positive message as much as I could in this happy, soundtrack style version. I hope you like it :)

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Artwork and photography by @Kalipluche

Seikilos' Song

What started as a simple sketch of polyrhythmic melodies, evolved into a Philip Glass documentary like track with dark sci-fi elements. It reminds me somehow of documentaries about our society and the dystopian future we are evolving towards, but that's just me. I'm sure you have your own images that form in your head while listening to this track. Anyway, this was an interesting, yet different composition to create and I hope it is just as interesting to listen to.

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Artwork by @Kalipluche

Evolution

This track musically tells the story of Amun, a young fisherman who lived along the Nile and someday decided to search for the scarab of Eth. The scarab was an artifact known to harness the power of the god Eth. Amun knew the stories and followed the clues to eventually find the artifact, hidden in a tomb deep beneath the Gizeh pyramid. When he held the scarab the power of Eth flowed through him and he became Amuneth: half man, half god. 

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Artwork by @Kalipluche

Amuneth's Awakening

I compose music in different themes that can be used in games, films or other visual media. Although I have a multimedia background, I’m inspired by the old arts. I listen and study old music to rediscover “lost” sounds and techniques which I subsequently implement in contemporary compositions. There are many old and ethnic sounds which sound really fresh and unique nowadays. I’m inspired to work with that and while I’m at it, come up with new ideas in those various styles. Also as a acoustic musician (guitar, violin, vocals, castagnettes) I’ve learned a thing or two about how to make a melody, harmony or rhythm interesting. And maybe that’s what I find most important about this craft; to make something that is unique, not heard before and still interesting and captivating after many listens. 

While I started with sci-fi’esque synths, I gravitate more and more towards analog, classical instruments. However, I’ve always loved melodies and sounds that are different and I think any musical style can sound great if you’re allowing a few unusual, original ideas into the final mix. When writing music on commission it’s fun to limit yourself to the style and feeling the composition needs to convey, yet be inspired by the material you work with. Although it is said that good film music doesn’t distract you from what’s going on screen, it is also true that a fitting yet unique music cue can transform a good scene into something special.

Hans Hylkema

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