Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, has a deep blue colour from the methane in its atmosphere. The colour also inspired its name since Neptune is the Roman god of the sea. I took the astrological association of dreams to create this experimental ambient song. There is influence from sci-fi scores like the ones for Ad Astra and Arrival to create the space and textures. I've also set the composition in 9/8 to give a slight unfamiliar feeling and included memories of all the prior songs during this sleep.

The Planets

Neptune

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Uranus, the 7th planet from the Sun, is tilted 98° relative to its plane of orbit. Even stranger, it is the only planet named after a Greek deity, the Greek god of sky, instead of its Roman equivalent, Caelus. Astrologically, it is fittingly associated with unconventional ideas, ingenuity, and discovery. This composition was a playground of ideas I came up while imposing two unusual restrictions. Being the seventh planet and representing unconventional ideas, the song is in 7/4. To tilt things on its head and require ingenuity, all sounds in this song are derived from just two instruments: my voice (or mouth/body etc.) and guitar. And lastly, after the existential crisis represented in Saturn, we must discover a new meaning for life and song.

Uranus

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Saturn, the 6th planet from the sun, has the most famous and recognizable rings in the solar system. These rings are made up of countless water/ice/rock particles trapped in orbit. The planet is named after the roman god of time. I took the idea of “trapped” and “time” to create this “midlife crises” trap song. If Jupiter is celebration from post-war, this song is the existential dread that comes with return to normalcy. The piece is mostly electronic and synthesized instruments, but features a lead synth sample from NASA’s recorded radio emissions from Saturn. Yes, NASA has SoundCloud and posts the planets radio emissions, check it out. https://soundcloud.com/nasa

Saturn

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Jupiter, the 5th planet from the Sun, is the largest planet at 143 thousand km wide and a mass of 2 x 10^27 kg. With such size, its gravity noticeably effects the other planets orbits make it the king of the planets and fittingly called Jupiter, the king of the gods. Trumpets, horns, and other brass instruments are classically used to represent royalty in music. So there is french horn rightfully featured in this piece. Rather than strictly triumphant, the mood of the song is jolly to celebrate the post-war era after Mars' song, and as a nod to Holst's version "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity".

Jupiter

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Mars, the 4th planet from the Sun, has a prevalence of iron oxide on its surface. This gives it its blood red colour and is fittingly named after the Roman god of war. This aggressive dubstep song tries to capture the feel of a new comrade entering war with its patriotic duty, sudden dark turns, and lasting effects. Most of the sounds were synthesized by time stretching, pitch shifting, and applying distortion effects to my voice and beatboxing.

Mars

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Earth, the 3rd planet from the Sun, is the only planet not directly named after a Roman deity. Nevertheless, the word can trace its roots to the Old English eorðe which was used to translate the Latin word Terra, the Roman goddess of the Earth.* As much as Earth's name references the land on this planet, most of the planet's surface is covered in water. So, I found a "liquid" dubstep song would be apt. I also sampled many sounds in nature such as birds for the sop pedal, whale for the bass, thunder for the crash, crickets for the high hat, and water drops to name a few elements that come together in this piece.

Earth

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Venus, the 2nd planet from the Sun, has the hottest mean temperature of 464°C. It is fittingly named after the Roman goddess of love given the association between feeling hot while in love. I wanted to take a different side of love in this piece. Rather than the usual romantic love, the mostly piano improvisation captures the tender love a parent might give while reading a bedtime story to their child. It has a peaceful and calming flow to contrast the previous song's explosion of possibilities.

Venus

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Mercury, the 1st planet from the Sun, takes just 88 Earth days to complete its orbit at an incredible 47 km/s. It is fittingly named after the Roman messenger god and serves a similar role in this suite as an overture to the following songs. All the planets' themes play off each other in this piece to prepare the listener for the journey ahead.

Mercury

Inspired by Gustav Holst's orchestral suite "The Planets",  I gave myself the challenge to compose an original song for each planet in our solar system.

Pluto, the 9th "planet" from the sun, was discovered in 1930, 14 years after Holst's suite was finish in 1916. It was also demoted to dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union, despite much of the scientific and public community opposing this decision (myself included). Nonetheless, I have included this cinematic composition since it is the perfect epilogue to The Planets. Named after the Roman god of the underworld, this piece captures the rebirth and transformation of our journey. Rather than the usual fiery and hell-ish depiction of the underworld, this takes on a somber and almost nihilistic end to our trip through the planets. We start with silence with the first planet, build as we experience the scale of the solar system, and once again end with silence as we float away our solar system into the empty, darkness of the universe.

Pluto

I make music. Sometimes it's on instruments like piano, bass, guitar, drums, accordion, flute, or horn, and usually there's electronics via Ableton Live.

Nicholas Izzotti