Key Data
- music written by Fred Austin
- lyrics written by Fred Austin
- arrangements by Fred Austin & TNGX
- artwork by TNGX
- produced, mixed & mastered by TNGX
- recorded in Oldenburg / Germany / Europe
- release date December 31, 2021
- duration: 27 minutes
- Songs:
- Illumination (the holy yard)
- Transition (confessions of a nihil god)
- Rebellion (annihilation of archaic wisdom)
The story behind the music
The basic framework for the fourth chapter and also the title “Spiritual Transition” were determined before the publication of “The Modernist” in February 2020. The songwriting began in March 2020 and continued until autumn 2021. It was clear from the start that this chapter should contain three songs instead of the previous four. However, these are a lot longer and more complex in comparison to the previous publications.
So it was only logical that for this chapter a theoretical superstructure was designed for the first time in the run-up to the songwriting, on which the individual compositions were later based in their respective forms. The three songs stand for the human being and its various stages of sensation and action. The spirituality and the religious superstructure symbolize the spiritual receptivity and the various forms that this can result.
The core of this chapter is the transformation that Oddward experiences and the split in his identity that is inherent in this process. This aspect is supported on the one hand by the different characteristics / interpretations of religiosity in archaic and modern and at the same time through the sexual transformation that Oddward experiences when he discovers his feminine side in him in Anima. Also the two other people, those he meets in his dungeon (“Rebellion”) and which later suddenly disappear again, point to the other personalities (the older Oddward from “Pale Aurora” and “Aurora”). Oddward is branded as an outsider and as a “freak” by the community. The networked, spiritual generation of energy within the “holy garden” again shows the parallels to the modern way of life in “Cloud Platoon”, so that Oddward realizes that it is neither for the modern, material nor for the ancient, spiritual world is created. The search for his meaning in life therefore continues
From a purely musical point of view, “Spiritual Transition” is, on the one hand, a continuation of the more complex song structures of “The Modernist”. Even if the classical instruments have remained essentially the same, the fourth chapter contains significantly more complementary instruments such as the various drums or the Sitar. Furthermore, more experiments were carried out with sound effects and samples, which resulted in an even denser atmosphere overall.
That was important insofar as this was the first time that the complete story was set before the composing phase and therefore the music was fully based on the storyline. As a result, the music gains the character of a soundtrack even more than before, even if the songs can still stand for themselves.
The recordings as well as the mixing were again done entirely on our own, with the help of new, technical skills, the overall sound quality could be improved again. The singing in particular experienced a new depth and presence through this procedure, which allows the individual vocal lines to come into their own. Unlike before, this time the songs were recorded and mixed with a time delay, each time after completion, so that when the last song (“Rebellion”) was completed in autumn 2021, only this had to be recorded and refined.
