Surface of the Sun
Tracklist
About The Album
Surface of the Sun is my debut album! It released on June 20, 2024, coinciding with the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere! (I have a thing for releasing albums on special days)
Following the release of Tetradecahedron in February 2023, I tried, and failed, at launching many other musical projects such as Xylosaurus. (which has now been indefinetly delayed) I released Legends of the Birds in October of that year, which was a new direction of sorts; while my previous music had been centered around rap, (because I didn't know how to sing) Legends of the Birds dipped its metaphorical toes into rock, and I liked it! Thus, I decided that my next musical project would be the tried-and-true rock concept album!
The album was written, composed. and recorded between December 2023 and April 2024. Pretty speedy! What helped make the process go smoother was my heavy use of VST instruments and plugins. Fun fact, the only "real" instrument on Surface of the Sun is my voice! Everything else was produced by using really really good sampled and modeled instruments like Kontakt guitar libraries, EZDrummer3 drums, and the ModoBass bass instrument.
The album was mainly influenced by the sounds of Weezer and Smash Mouth, whom I was obsessed with at the time. I think that really comes through in the wacky, sometimes nonsensical, lyrics and use of the Vox Continental organ (which I adore) and synthesizer in addition to the more typical rock instrument lineup.
The story of Surface of the Sun is as follows: in the near feature, think like 2050, the Sun randomly "burns out," like a lightbulb. Chaos ensues: people start freezing to death and making conspiracy theories. Eventually, everyone gets ushered into underground towns of bunkers for their own safety. Meanwhile, NASA brainstorms a solution. They decide to send a crew of astronauts to the sun to try and reignite it by bombing the heck out of it.
Honestly, as it stands today, I think Surface of the Sun is an alright album. It's definetly some of the best music I've ever made, and it was a great first foray into the world of album-making. But, my biggest issue with it is its length, or lackthereof; it only lasts for ~20 minutes! And I don't think I'm ever going to do a concept album again...too confusing!
I was especially excited when the CD came out; for years I had always dreamed (as weird and corny as it sounds) of having one of my works, be it a book, game, or album, produced as a piece of physical media as a way to "preserve my legacy!" I'm glad to say I fulfilled that bucket list item with this release! When I my order of CDs arrived for the first time I just spent like 10 minutes staring at them with a stupid grin on my face... It was so, just, purely, "cool" to me to have my *own* music on Spotify, and like 5 times as cool to actually have it as a CD!