About the Project
I began working on this project in 2018.
How I arrived at this final format is kind of a strange story. But if I had to summarize it quickly, I really just wanted to combine my three favorite mediums (writing, painting and music) into a single project. It sounded simple on paper. I had no idea what I was signing myself up for.
I didn’t anticipate how much time digital painting would take me to get comfortable with, despite having drawn and painted most of my life. I didn’t expect to start learning (albeit simple) animation, or how to design environments and strange creatures and all that goes into world-building. I didn’t foresee learning how to narrate this myself, or teaching myself audio mastering. And I certainly didn't anticipate how much experimentation it would take to fit these pieces into a cohesive whole.
But I think sometimes it’s best not to know. If I knew what I was getting myself into, I likely would have chosen something simpler. And that would’ve been a real shame. Despite it taking ten times the effort of anything I’ve ever attempted, I’ve never had so much fun with a project.
I’m still not sure what to call the final result. A living book? A semi-animated fairytale? Your guess is as good as mine. But whatever name I could give it, this is only part one. So if this is something you wind up enjoying, know that there is quite a bit more to the story.
To learn more, click here to visit the dedicated website.
Message from the Other Side
In this opening song, Vagus, the hero of our story, has the strangest dream.
The goal for this track was to make something felt dreamy and mysterious. I recorded this with loose tempos, so that all of the instruments would drift in and out of time. The drums were all recorded as separate pieces as well, so they are never quite in time with each other either.
Lyrically, the song is a prophecy about things to come.
Message from the Other Side
I am not asleep; I'm not awake
Suspended in the in-between state
Like voices encased in the breeze
I hear them as they call to me
Walk
Underneath the eye of the owls
Cross the bridge made up of moonlight
Close your eyes
Take no offer from them
Song within my bones
Old as time
Keep what you know
The light must stay with you until the end of time
Graves
Mark the end of the world with you
Over the Garden Wall
In this song, the hero of our story is gathering to courage to leave home, not knowing if he'll ever be able to return.
This is the first song I recorded for the project. It was also the song I used to teach myself how to master music. I mastered it over 100 times to get a handle on the process. It was interesting to have a song I recorded in less than a week turn into something I spent so much time with. But the drums and distortion made it a good candidate to stress test my equipment, and my process.
The song title is a nod to one of the many inspirations for this project, a short-run animated series that debuted on Cartoon Network. If you've never seen it, and you enjoy animation, I'd definitely give it a watch.
Over the Garden Wall
Like a bell in the distance
Or sirens in the pit of my skull
I had a lucid dream plant a seed in me
That I couldn't help but to sow
I felt it slowly grow, the roots took hold
In a garden I could never quite show
Then all the branches crept through my empty chest
'Til I could only hear the unknown
Like a song in my bones
I could walk those halls with my eyes closed
'Cause I have known these walls since I have known myself
And what once was rest has turned to restlessness
And these routines have changed from balms to tiny hells
And still I hear that bell
Under the blanket of darkness
I felt that it was time for me to go
That it would do no good to avoid those woods
The questions weigh more than what I know
And a part of me will always bleed
For where I stumbled into this world
But I am not content behind any fence
The garden in me is overgrown
I house a woods of my own
Oh, I don't trust my voice
So I will say goodbye with ink and simple words
And I am not yet sure what I am looking for
So I can't say the day or time that I'll return
For you familiar was always a wanted thing
But for me it's just a gentler form of chains
No, I can't explain just what is pulling me
But just cause it's hard to go does not mean I should stay
So I'm on my way
And I know this road may never lead me home
But it's a worse thing to always wonder what might have been
And I hope that you can understand these words
And I hope one day I'll see you all again
But now it's into the woods
Enter the Woods
This song follows Vagus on his first full day away from home.
This track was originally even longer. I cut an entire section to trim it down. But I enjoy making long, narrative driven pieces like this, even knowing that most people don't have patience for them. I'd put this alongside songs like Winter is Coming see the album "Ghost", Black Eyes see the album "The Roots", and The Deserter's Song see the "Touch the Sky" EP in terms of style and construction.
Enter the Woods
All I've ever known
Is now somewhere to the back of me
In the front lies only mysteries and uncertainties
But it's time to go see what unfolds
Hope rests in my hands
I feel most whole when my soul is but a leaf
Riding currents in the breeze
When I know not where I'll land
Unfamiliar ground
And all the walls that I have never climbed
Loom the largest in my mind
And I like the way that a puzzle displays
That the pieces before you reveal wonders
When they're combined
Are these roots just the veins of the earth?
Does the sky ever question its worth?
Are the dreams that we dream truly ours
Or from some ancient stream?
Are there messages up in the stars?
Is the end of the world just a start?
And can one know their heart?
When I was a little one
I'd sit and watch the setting sun
And I'd wonder when it was gone
Where was it going to visit next?
All that time my eyes were pointed off
Out into the distance
Often drowning in my questions
Like what will I learn from those with a foreign tongue?
And what makes a river run?
Oh, I wonder what I'll become
And what places will I belong?
And will they all be quite this dark?
It's hard to catch my breath
With this beating in my chest
Oh, what's hiding in the dark?
Why do I feel so small?
What really lies in front of me?
Can I make it very far?
Will I find the source of the bell?
I guess time will tell
I guess time will tell
I guess time will ...
