any genre, any time length, any format. solo projects, projects with bands, one-off mp3s, anything!
as musicians, ideally we want to make music that we enjoy, and if others also do, that's awesome. i'm sure most of you have at least one standout track you've worked on that you're really proud of and want people to listen to!
i'll start with what is my absolute favorite off my latest Noctoran release, "Reflection of the Pale Moon's Eye" from the Thy Curses We Bear Eternal demo in April of 2023:
as the closer of this black metal demo, i really feel like i nailed the feel and the production that i wanted in this song. the riffs don't particularly diverge much from their structure, but i think it really works for the sort of raw-but-atmospheric vibe i was going for with this material.
i'm also really happy with the drum arrangements; there's a sense of flow that i wanted to nail between the start and looping into the main riff with the super aggressive blast beats. it's also the only song on the demo that has a slower, more doomy sort of dirge feeling to it a little after the middle. i am also really happy with how the vocals turned out, going between the shrill highs, deep lows, and the moments where i just scream my lungs out.
overall i've been really happy with this track, and it also feels really good to play live. i think you've accomplished making a truly great track when it gets stuck in your own head.
- Goodbye (I Won't Leave You)
perhaps one of the first times i ever took composing seriously - not just on a learning level, but on an emotional level. as my relationship with my parents (including a bad (now ex-))stepfather was rapidly plummeting to an all-time low, my mom and i were beginning to patch things up with each other and understand each other more. i wanted to compose a song for her, something that would fit both our sensibilities and flex more of my understanding of arrangements and melody. despite it being based on a now-defunct grimdark webcomic, this song is probably the happiest ive ever been able to come up with, and one that gave me the motivation to continue making music; i dont think i would have kept taking music-making seriously if i didnt come up with this one.
- Ghost
i hardly talked to ghost much before she passed at an incomprehensibly low age, but her art was one of the biggest beacons of positivity and light in the brony fandom for me at the time. it wasnt the first time in life someone i knew died, but it left me absolutely numb and incapable of figuring out how to grapple with grief. i decided to try to translate my feelings into a song - this spilled out rapidly over the course of three hours in one sitting, and it was then i was able to grieve properly. even when i listen back to it, i can clearly recall every single emotion and feeling i poured into it, and i can only hope ghost was able to hear it wherever she went.
