By Nick Smalley ← Ohgodwhat Previous track by this artist → Miasmajesty Next track by this artist and Michael Guy Bowman bowman Bandcamp YouTube YouTube mguybowman Twitter michaelguybowman.com Other mguybowman Instagram ← Gust of Heir Previous track by this artist → How Do I Live (D8 Night Version) Next track by this artist.
Cover art by Noot shikana DeviantArt ← Vagabounce Remix Previous track art by this artist.
Released 10/25/2011.
Duration: 2:33.

Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.

Read artist commentary.

Tracks that Revered Return references:

• Dirgeish by Nick Smalley and Andrew Huo
• Sburban Jungle by Michael Guy Bowman

Artist commentary:

Michael Guy Bowman: (co-composer, via early commentary collection)

"Revered Return" began as a track called "Dirgeish", a .pxtone composition that Nick had completed some time ago but never managed to squeeze into an album. Because as a chip tune it had been long overlooked, I decided to take a whack at producing it in a different style for inclusion on Volume 8. I had been looking for a piece that would work as a rock tune, and "Dirgeish" really struck me because of the heavy involvement of drums, its steady pace, and dynamic structure.

The unique challenge of arranging "Revered Return" was pinning down exactly what was what - "Dirgeish" had maximized use of its resources as an electronic composition, shifting instrumentation several times in ways that wouldn't translate to a rock context. I found myself in a very subjective position, kind of picking and choosing what things would stay in and what things would be changed, while overall trying to maintain the original structure of the song.

The structure I think might be the most unique part of "Revered Return" - it doesn't waste time by really repeating itself a lot. Nine out of ten times I work on a song I find myself writing or arranging something that moves in a very basic structure like ABAB or AABA or other variants, etc. "Dirgeish" gave me the challenge of establishing coherency in a piece that seemed to move almost completely linearly, and I made sure to preserve its sort of ABCDEFGBA-type structure in arranging "Revered Return" for Volume 8.

Nick Smalley: (co-composer, via early commentary collection)

Remember that thing about ORGMaker? Yeah, this song, too. Except add me asking Andrew Huo to help finish it and Bowman to ramp it up, and you've got Revered Return. :3

Michael Guy Bowman: (Michael Guy Bowman Talks About His Homestuck Music, adapted to text) 7/20/2024

Revered Return, that was a piece of Nick's music that I arranged out. That was one where I rewrote the piece, basically, from beginning to end, from this chiptune. At the time it was literally just me going through the haphazard, not really built for multitake thing on FL Studio and trying to write guitar lines that would, you know, go through, nearly one measure at a time, just to get it down. But I was so pleased with the result.