By Red Pen reddpenn Tumblr.
Cover art by Mal McGannon.
Released 7/30/2011.
Duration: 2:58.

Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.

Read artist commentary.

Artist commentary:

Red Pen: (booklet commentary)

Ruins are majestic. Ruins are mysterious. And to me, ruins are really really awesome.

I went into "Ruins of Rajavihara" with the intent of creating a piece of music one might hear in the "ruins" level fo a videogame; solemn and full of mystery while still sounding pretty cool and fast-paced. Rajavihara is a beautifully overgrown temple in Cambodia, and there are a lot of influences from that part of the world in the piece, from instrument choice to rhythm and tune.

I hope this music invokes the ruins in Homestuck, from the Frog Temples to the many strange structures scattered across each Land. These are some of my favorite features in the comic, and I wanted to create something cool for them.

Mal McGannon: (booklet commentary)

This is a slick song, and I have to say I liked it a lot when I first heard it. But it didn't ring out to me as a frog ruins song, which I feel like it might have been intended to be; instead, I got very vivid images from LOFAF in my mind. So when I 1) saw this song needed art and 2) stumbled across the fact that 2a) Rajavihara is a real place and 2b) Hussie used it as LOFAF scenery in Jade: STRIFE!!!!!!!, it was only logical that I take a picture of the real ruins (thanks Wikipedia!) and do some poor hue shifting and dodging and burning to it as "art".

Also, I drew those flowers. But that doesn't really matter. This song is what matters, and this song is really, really, really really good. So stop reading my drivel and close your eyes and soak it in!