Dream Walks

Hello, everyone!

New (to FR) release, time for another blog post talking about it! This one was very much more of an experiment with a specific gimmick. At first I wasn't quite sure about it - it kept sounding too samey to me, which is understandable given the gimmick - but over time it has grown onto me. And then some more after I normalised the audio for the entire release, previously it was mixed too quietly, but I think now it should be fine!

Dream Walk was the first track, and it features a single pattern that increases in complexity, and following some changes in macros, decreases to where it was at the start. Started out as part of a different thing, but when I heard the first one, this idea was born in my mind. This is the base "Dream" - every other track literally includes this track in them and builds on it in various ways.

Carefree Wanderer, 9th track made for this album, after I was wondering about the album release order, and wanted to slot something kind of whimsical-feeling at the start, before the following track. Maybe a little strange-sounding, I think it fits the bill overall.

Frigid is a track that I've described as "Dream Walk but you're listening while sat in a freezer". I wanted to tell what could be interpreted as a little story when the tracks were listened to consecutively, each with a slightly different feel or mood to them. This one was intended to be where things start to seem off during the dream walks, but not quite there yet.

The Other Trail... has an unintentional jumpscare with how suddenly it changes gears. I actually do like how suddenly it hits, with a moment of "Oh crap" to signify that something happened. If I recall correctly, this was the fifth title for the track - the first few were way too on the nose, in my opinion, for example - "Dream Overwritten" or "Encountered". I wanted to keep what happened slightly more up to the interpretation.

Bounce Back - initially called that because I thought the synth sounded quite bouncy. A bounciness that eventually I found to be quite fitting right after an "event" such as the previous track. Third track that was made for the album, so a bit on the simpler side, bass duties taken care of by a simple 3xOsc synth.

Apparently Fine was the second track made for the album, with the same 3xOsc synth for bass. Named so because I wanted to make something that sounded quite upbeat, but this track always felt slightly off to me. Apparently fine, but not quite right.

Mellow is where the "not quite right" begins to take more shape. Initially called "Losing It", where I wanted to make the crescendo track as a peak of the album, where things get too much, too overwhelming for the one walking the Dream Walks, but some synth choices made the sound mellow out a tad. I dunno how I feel about the kicky bass synth, looking back at it, I've left it unchanged throughout, but in the middle it starts to sound a little weak, not sure why.

Losing It - as Mellow went a different way, I still wanted the crescendo, and this is how I got it. By adding more and more - nine tracks playing alongside, including the base Dream Walk. Ominous start, and then gets more and more. This is actually my favourite in the album, and the last one made for it.

Lucid - at this point, I'd already long known which two tracks I wanted to end the album with, that would follow the peak of Losing It, and this was the first of the ending pair, and the only track that got a "Version Two" treatment, after I found the pizzicato strings to sound way too goofy (but kept one pattern in the very end). Features a lot of string synths/patterns at six. The goal for this one was that after the breaking point, the mind begins to clear up, but the way is long, and it's not quite there yet. Not until...

Clarity was always the one to close off the album. Simple, calm. Clear. To bring an ease of mind after all the chaos experienced previously. I really like how it turned out. One of the synth presets used is called "Dreamweaver", which fits fantastically. (The echo-y 'ding' sound)

Careless Wanderer was made immediately after Carefree, and is mostly the same, except some tones are made, and tracks distorted. I thought of the title after Carefree, that it would be just a cool idea to make a "corrupted" version of the same track. Though I couldn't find room for it in the original release, but now that I've fixed the audio for the album, this feels like as good a time as any.

I hope you all like it too!

Cheers,

Cordell

The cover is a photo I took myself, of some light decorations my town drapes over the trees alongside the main street for Christmas and New Year's, then edited.