Outlast

Nuclear Winter

I often hear talk of how depressing it is to learn the truth about what's really going on in our society and in our world, including in the comments sections of the places my own writings appear. I'm always being asked for advice on how to keep going on when everything seems so dismal.

This blog has largely functioned as a space where I document the ongoing expansion of my own awareness and understanding of the world and all its ills, an education which I suspect will continue for as long as I have a functioning brain. But to be honest in the six plus years I've been working at this project I've never once experienced a moment of the despair and depression I hear people talking about, and it's never once occurred to me to give up or stop fighting.

Reading by Caitlin Johnstone.

There Is Always Hope, And There Is Always Wonder

Gravity is a piece about letting go and embracing change. Musicians always tell you that their latest music is the best they have ever written, so this might be unusual to hear, but this track is simultaneously my most and least favorite piece of music i have written in recent years.

A few months ago i had some pretty traumatic experiences that made me unable to focus on any creative work. When i finally sat down to make something, i didn't wanted to write anything significant or important, i only wanted to experiment with some new sounds and ideas. This piece was almost finished in a few hours. I wanted to widen the palette of the sounds i'm using, introducing new bass instruments, a new approach to create drum tracks and also trying out a i - bVII - i - ii chord progression, which i believe is extremely rare to find.

First i was hesitant to even share this one because i feel it is very generic and predictable in many ways, yet somehow it captured perfectly my state of mind after the wounds of last year. Sometimes you just have to accept that things change around you and stop hold on to your hurt feelings, so your mind and body can be at the same place again. Far from the place that pulls you down.
I am listening to it for weeks now and somehow feel better every time. It is a very strange adventure to me, but there you go...

Gravity

Distant Lives is the result of my first experiments with frequency modulation. I finally opened Ableton Operator to see how it works, and when I heard this three-overtone saw wave modulated by a 4-bit sine, I instantly fell in love with it. I randomly played some notes on my MIDI keyboard, and this surprisingly sweet melody emerged.

It reminded me of a few images I shot last winter at the Siófok pier—a red lantern coloring the shoreline and casting new light on the dusk. Aren't we all just mesmerized by the sight of great lakes and seas? Contemplating distances and unreachable goals? Are there people standing on the other side, looking in our direction with the same curiosity as us? Is there a better life waiting for us all, or is this the better life?

This is a rare case of image and sound inspiring each other in a feedback loop. I quite like this piece, and I hope you find something in it too.

Distant Lives

The Only Process

The Only Process (Sasi Remix)

✨ You can watch the music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcLMKVBfujY ✨ 
🌊 For some similar peaceful tunes check out this playlist: https://soundcloud.com/argonantlers/sets/healing-journey 🌊

"For We Are" is the second track I made for my upcoming album, TBA.
This is the first time I am intentionally writing pieces that should fit into a bigger work, realizing a single vision.

I'm still figuring out how far I can go with changing keys, instrumentation, and the overall feel. I want this to be a really tight fit, where every song has its place and meaningful impact in the overall composition.

Having said that, this might be the furthest I’ve swum from the shores of Vanishing Waves. While Vanishing Waves had a very important melodic motif, this time it’s purely a rhythmic experience.

This piece reuses some of the same instruments—the subtractive bass, the white noise textures, the piano, and my favorite FM presets I made. 
But it’s also the first track where I used granular synthesis, something I’m excited to integrate more into my soundscape. I also created a lovely Mellotron sound, which leads the whole experience.

I’m still learning how to write pieces in a major key—remember, before 2024, I only wrote music in minor keys for over 15 years. I'm glad I’ve finally found a way to enjoy these intervals and patterns in an honest way.

A few more months, and the album will be ready to set sail.
Wish me luck!

Outlast

Phantom Flag

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