Moons of Theseus - Commentary
2.4k words across 21 entries.
Moons of Theseus Moons of Theseus (album commentary) Listen on: Bandcamp
Home Listen on: Bandcamp
Moons of Theseus is an album idea we had lying around from before UnofficialMSPAFans' recent year of 0 content, and it's a project a lot of us had been looking forward to for a long time. Fitting, too, that it's named for the paradox in which every piece of an object is replaced gradually until it has nothing physically in common with its original state. The idea for Home we had back then is nothing like what you hear now. SplitSuns and I didn't know what we wanted back then, beyond "Oh hey, you want to make a tribute to Forever? Me too!" It's safe to say that little to none of that initial desire to reimagine Mobius Trip's overture has bled through into the finished product, but it's safer still to say that this song wouldn't be possible if it had been approached any other way. That's not the only thing that's changed in the meantime, either: since we initially promised to collaborate on this, we've both improved as composers and producers, and our styles have evolved, our influences are different, and the zeitgeist of what it means to be a Homestuck fan, particularly a Homestuck music fan, is practically unrecognisable.
For me, making Home was one hell of an experience. I taught myself a lot of new techniques while co-writing and co-producing it, and I'm proud of it in a way I've never been proud of anything else before. Much like the song itself, I'm no longer the same weedy, slightly annoying kid who made a bunch of tracks on Weird Puzzle Tunes. That kid couldn't dream of making something like this. Strictly speaking, I couldn't either. This was a team effort with one of the best friends I've made through UnofficialMSPAFans. So a huge thank you to SplitSuns for pushing this song to its maximum potential is in order, as is another to our two fantastic vocalists, Ucklin and WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES. I also want to thank all of the friends I've made through Homestuck music, and by extension, the comic itself. I don't think I'd still be making stuff with this project without your love, kindness, and good humour.
Maybe this is narcissistic (or at the very least, laughably ambitious) for me to say, but I hope that when you listen to Home, you hear some echo of the past or other that resonates with you. I also hope that it feels like something you've never heard before. Much like the titular ship of Theseus, the form has been made anew, but the essence is the same as it always was.
I honestly can't recall exactly when the first time Grace and I discussed our love for Forever was, or when that love transformed into making a full-blown tribute, but over the many, MANY months, our pact to realize our emotions in song finally came to fruition. This is the first time I've done such a large-scale collaboration, and it's safe to say that it exceeded all my expectations. Neither of us thought that a track tributing a three minute opener would turn into a multi-part 10:25 epic, but life tends to have ways of surprising you. It wasn't easy balancing the track's complexities, which is why I was beyond grateful to have Grace help out with organizing things. This song would not be what it is without her; it wouldn't even exist at all, really! Her skills cannot be overstated.
The first components of the song were completed by Grace. She wrote and composed the lyrics for the vocal section, and produced the majority of the guitar breakdown/climax towards the end of the track. From there we planned a road map of the song's progression to link together what had been completed: an ambient intro similar to Forever, a transition to lead into the vocal section, the vocal section, another transition to lead to the climax, the climax, and then an ending. I produced the majority of the intro and first transition, with Grace providing additional production and WHATISLOSTINTHEMINES playing live guitar! My goal was to create a composition with the same sense of scale and drama as Forever while having a unique mood, playful and hopeful all at once. I produced the vocal section to match Grace's songwriting, with additional production from Grace; MINES' lo-fi strains contrasted with Ucklin's ethereal melodies very nicely, right on top of a groove I never anticipated coming out of the project. The second transition was done entirely by Grace, bridging the gap between the dance that came before and the cinematic breakdown coming after. Finally, I provided additional production on the climax and created the ending. We wanted something like, in Grace's words, "the digital-age counterpart to the end of Have a Cigar." The result was a little bit more violent than that, but it provides a thrilling conclusion to the experience all the same, jettisoning off into the Incipisphere.
The varied parts of Home take you by the hand and guide you on a journey throughout time and space. It is my belief that by listening, you're taking the same journey Grace, myself, and all the other creatives involved in this album took in the process of making the project a reality. It's been a long and winding road, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Thank you.
Traveling Listen on: Bandcamp
The opening chords of this song were originally part of a scrapped attempt on Singularity, a song from the previous album on the bandcamp, Cosmic Caretakers. That was the penultimate song on that album, and this is the second on this album. So in a way, they're like weird bookends. More to the point though, this song ended up as an unintentional but fortuitous continuation to the "voyage" brought up in Home, both physical and metaphysical. In literal terms the lyrics are about the crossing of humans along the Bering Strait, but another interpretation is that they're a reflection of a process all humans go through: the pursuit of a purpose, the satisfaction of completing a goal, and the perennial urge to find new things to do, new things to learn, to experience, to travel. It's a fundamental feeling, true from the dawn of you, to your last sail on the pumpkin tide.
Naturally when everyone else is going for wild, creative concepts, I fall back on making it Homestuck... when I heard Cait's song it made me think of the Battlefield, and when I read the lyrics, I thought, what better thing to depict than the moment Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido look into the clouds for the first time and witness the secrets of the universe?
Unchained Listen on: Bandcamp
I've always had a soft spot for Chain of Prospit with its quirky lyrics and extremely uplifting chorus, so when the time came to start working on a tribute album it didn't take me long to decide which song I'd bastardize. A departure from MTAHK's mellow sound, Unchained ended up being rather frantic and abrasive, resembling something akin to an explosive release of all the suppressed emotions that have been bottling up inside one's heart for way too long - destruction of emotional shackles, in other words. As for Skyplayer's artwork, I think it compensates for what the song might be lacking in terms of depth. Vivid 3-dimensional imagery paired with vibrant colours definitely makes it stand out from other illustrations.
Chain of Prospit has always been one of my all-time favorite Homestuck songs. Even just the title of Unchained immediately gave me visions of the Prospit Moon's broken connection to Prospit, but unlike [S] Descend, where the event is catastrophic, I wanted to depict the moon coming loose as a moment of freedom.
Dinosaur Pill Listen on: Bandcamp
This song actually started as two separate ideas. I started the song months ago, but wasn't able to quite capture the themes that I intended, so I decided to go back to the drawing board to create what is now the chorus. I decided it was worthwhile to find a way t ocombine the two ideas because I didn't want to think of more, and the verse did capture a mood that I didn't want to get rid of. I think the resulting transitions are potentially jarring, but I feel okay with the atmosphere that creates. I wanted to make a true MTaHK koan, so I won't tell you what the song is about eaxctly. You should tell me!
Jas:
What waits in the water as it grows more and more?
The soft foam of a dinosaur.
Ithaca Is Calling Listen on: Bandcamp
Fun fact, the title track off of Michael Guy Bowman's album Ithaca was initially planned to be part of Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido. This cover is an attempt to capture what the original song might have been had it stayed on the original track listing. This is by far the most complex song I've worked on yet, I think there's like... 30 different instances of synths or instruments? At the very least? And plenty of them only end up playing for a couple seconds in the end. Regardless of all that, I had a lot of fun putting this together, and I hope I managed to capture that MTAHK vibe we all hold so close to our hearts.
The Fifth Window Listen on: Bandcamp
koba:
i made this song cuz the new window is cool and you know what would be cooler? adding more cool songs to it
please nintendo give me animal crossing switch at e3 PLEASE
The Return Listen on: Bandcamp
This song has quite the history to it! I made it back in July of 2018 for the Cool and New Music Team's "Volume 11" project, a plan to make a fan-made meme-filled image of a fake Volume 11 from the Homestuck Music Team's Bandcamp page a reality. All the songs, including a 12-hour "extended" version of Penumbra Phantasm, a rock opera made out of Michael Guy Bowman memes, and a sequel to the Baby is You, were painstakingly produced based on the ideas (and jokes) the track names suggested. Each song's length was the same as it was in the original image, and photoshopped reviews were even added on the album's page using dummy accounts!
For my song (originally called "The Return of Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido") the team was planning on playing it straight and producing a medley of songs from MTaHK. I went with their idea and made a mega-mix of every song on the album, with the caveat being it had to be 6:12 long exactly! I first planned out the structure of the song on a single piano track to make sure it fit the time limit, then went back in and fleshed out all the instrumentation. I wanted it to be reminiscent of Bowman's work, with his classic guitar flourishes, but put my own spin on it all the same. The whole project kind of crystallized over the course of a single week I spent stuck to my computer 24/7, continually tweaking it to make sure the track flowed despite its disparate parts. If you're interested to find out more about its production process check out this video.
All in all, it's a fast-paced schizophrenic redux of the highlights of MTaHK (which is to say, the whole album) that even now I'm still proud of. I'm happy to have the opportunity to put it on this amazing album!
Pumpkin Tide (Gourdian Sea Version) Listen on: Bandcamp
The tambourine sound is actually a belly dancing belt with bangles... and yes, I did wear it and dance. This is an update to the version of Pumpkin Tide that I did on my iPad when I was in the hospital, recovering from my bone marrow transplant. I took some comfort in the way that the lyrics seemed to fit my experience leaving school for my treatment and being thrust into an unwanted "adventure." I wanted to keep this version pretty simple, so it's almost entirely just multitracked recordings of my acoustic instruments. I did add a touch of phased and flanged reverb because I wanted it to feel like a live performance on another world.
A remake of my old piece from 2013. I gave it a proper background that compliments the song. Peaceful but a bit broken up and in the process of healing.
Self-Avoiding Walks Listen on: Bandcamp
In an attempt at making something somber and contemplative I tried to imbue The Deeper You Go motif with just a tad bit of additional mystery. Things... got out of hand at some point, resulting in whatever this is.
Jas:
With self reflection in mind this is presented on a spiral bound sketchbook, a place for wandering thoughts and discardable ideas, the entire book easily closed and abandoned. I did a bit of multimedia on this one by photographing magazine clppings and editing the beans out of them.
Negligent Murmur Listen on: Bandcamp
I guess all 80s music sounds like MTaHK...
SplitSuns: (UMSPAF manager)
Ucklin, you are an absolute legend for making this cover.
With the instruction: "Something like Hadron singing passionately into a microphone while Mobius plays a weird looking saxophone, or whatever." I have set to work on this overcomplicated masterpiece, adding more and more clutter until I have reached the ultimate concert effect.
Violet and Gold Listen on: Bandcamp
Back in May 2012, Liza posted some lyrics to their Tumblr. I know because I went back and looked up the original post. May 21, 2012. And at the time, I knew I wanted to make something inspired by and using those lyrics. So I started working on a song... but of course, things got busy for me.
Let's fast forward seven years, shall we?
The final version of Vilet and Gold that you're listening to hopefully does the Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido album justice, and gives life to Liza's original lyrics. Each track of MTaHK is referenced here, as well as Sburban Jungle and Derse Dreamers for good measure. The end of the song is a dramatic retelling of Dawn of Man, with lyrics referencing more recent events in Homestuck. It's been ten years since Homestuck first started and I knew I always wanted to have something big to finish off this song. (I just didn't know at the time it would be some sweet Beta Version bass.)
I'd like to thank Imbrog for helping me out way back in 2012 with the chord progressions at the start of the song, and to Ucklin for lending her voice to Hadron's part. She's really brought Bowman's character to life and I'm deeply thankful. Also thanks to Mines for recording some live guitar for this piece, and of course thanks to Liza for their beautiful original lyrics.
Which vantage is your story told from? Are you a Dersite carapacian, fighting a war you never wanted to have? Do you dream like a Prospit Carapacian of the futility of your existence, in a battle you cannot win?
Violet and gold.
Jas:
Much like the differences between Prospit and Derse we used two clashing mediums to show how they can work in tandem even better than apart. This is a duet in more ways than one!
Moons of Theseus
Track list (1–11)