Depths and Water
By Blackhole
not-terezi-pyrope
Tumblr
blackholesc
SoundCloud.
Cover art by Cosmic
windy-warrior
Tumblr.
Released 12/8/2017.
Duration: 7:15.
Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.
Read artist commentary.
Tracks that Depths and Water references:
Artist commentary:
Selecting LoCaS for my track presented me with a challenge of how to compose a track for a land that has silence as one of its elements. Thankfully, the theme of caves gave me something to work with, and I decided to lean into the soft, echoing quality of underground spaces. I decided that the best way to convey the "silence" would be to have a slowly building intro defined by subtle sounds and silent breaks, with the melody coming in as a subtle echo that slowly builds to crescendo. I tried to give the lead instruments a diffuse, echoing quality to carry on the theme. I'm hoping the builds and silent breaks give the desired effect without ultimately being too minimal and drawn-out. I felt that dripping water was another strong but subtle scene-setting sound element. It also gave me a sound concept that I used for the glass bells, which I tried to give the same feel while building to an arpeggio-style melody to give the track some velocity. Most of the time I spent on the track probably went into arranging the bells, as a lot of thought had to go into the note placement, and I ended up having to compose the part twice after I realized too late that the first version didn't sound correct alongside the main melody. In terms of influences, I think the piece takes some cues from one of the slower pieces from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, particularly for what became the cello section. Oh, and of course I couldn't write a Homestuck track without including at least a nod to the OST, so I snuck in a little bit of Indigo Heir at the end for Equius during the final contemplative fadeout. Overall I'm pretty proud of this track, and I hope you enjoy it!
I had lots of fun working on this piece, and the input from others really helped me learn new ways to do things and helped the piece come together to what it is now. I feel that the hardest part was making all the pieces of the art meld together into one cohesive and nice to look at image. I hope everyone listening enjoys the song and the art, and I hope they like the album as a whole as it was put together with help from all sorts of talented musicians and artists whom I respect greatly.