By Witch's Cadence witchscadence Bandcamp WitchsCadence Twitter YouTube YouTube.
Cover art by dizzims. dizzims Twitter.
Released 6/2/2024.
Duration: 9:20.

Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.

Read artist commentary.

Tracks that The Epic of Jack Noir references:

• Oppa Toby Style by Toby Fox
• Liquid Negrocity by Toby Fox
• The Ballad of Jack Noir by Toby Fox
• Double Midnight by Toby Fox
• The Dirty Snake's Coup by Witch's Cadence
• I'm Sorry by Witch's Cadence

Tracks that The Epic of Jack Noir samples:

• Black by Toby Fox
• I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew by Jean Schwartz and William Jerome

Lyrics:

A split in the multiverse
A crack in God’s will
Can you smell the smoke rising from the ashes?

A fire burns in the distance
Hell is coming
They are coming
Heed these words, Jack

The gates of heaven have been opened
Hear the call of the angels
And reach out and claim what is yours
The fate of those you love depends on it

Make her a member of the Midnight Crew...

Make her- Make her- Make her- Make her-
Make her a member of the Midnight Crew!

Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her- Midnight Crew!
Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her- Midnight Crew!

Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!
Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make make make- Make her a member of the-
Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!

Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew! Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!
Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her- Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!
Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her- Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!
Make her a member of- Make her a member of-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her- Mid- Mid- Midnight Crew!

Make her a member of the-
Make her a- Make her a-
Make her a member of the- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her-
Make her a member of the-
Make her a- Make her a-
Make her a member of the- Make her a member of the-
Make- Make- Make her- Make her-

Make her- Make her- Make her- Make her-
RRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR

Artist commentary:

Witch's Cadence: (booklet commentary)

ACT 3

This is it, the big kahuna, massive whopper, the epic ensemble that is, “The Epic of Jack Noir”. The last time I did a solo album for something, I made a giant song, one that was a whopping seven minutes and thirty seconds, but now, I’ve shown myself up. This song is the definitive longest song I’ve ever written, totaling nine minutes at least. Why did I do this? Because I can, mothafuckers. Because I can. This song is about basically, the ULTIMATE JACK OFF. For some reason thousands, maybe even millions of jacks have collided into one plane of existence, and now they have to all fight to the death to prove who is the GREATEST JACK. It’s basically a mega jack medley. The first minute or so was separate from the song at first, and was a track that played right before, but I decided to smush them together because it made the album a nice perfect ten tracks, (also it made the song longer, and I’m just vain like that. The inspirations for this song were very clear in my mind, at first I wanted to make “what if the end part of “Oppa Toby Style” was a full song”. You know, the part where “Black” plays? But I also wanted to have a section near the end where it goes ascension mode, like “Hopes and Dreams” from Undertale. I did the first minute and a half with this in mind, and originally was using shreddage and a soundfont for the drums. This demo can be found in the goodie bag folder. But then I had an idea, what if I made it like the final boss song “Unexpectancy” from Pizza Tower? As in, have 3 main parts to it, kind of like phases. In that game the song is split up like that, having a normal boss theme phase 1, a pedantically goofy 2nd phase, and then a hyped up emotionally driven final phase. This was the layout I gained for my song, and so that is how I began my journey.

“The Epic of Jack Noir” starts with a poem, or that’s what I’m calling it at least. It doesn’t really follow any actual rhyme or reason, it kind of just is. When this section was it’s own track, it was called “Poem of Calamity”. Of course I have “Black” play behind it on a kind of music box/bell esque synth. The poem goes like this:

“POEM FOR CALAMITY” A split in the multiverse,
a crack in God’s will.
Can you smell the smoke rising from the ashes? A fire burns in the distance;
hell is coming.
They are coming.
Heed these words jack: The gates of heaven have been opened.
Hear the call of the angels,
and reach out and claim what is yours. THE FATE OF THOSE YOU LOVE DEPENDS ON IT

I then sampled song “Black”, and reversed it and put a lot of bitcrush over it. The sample slowly fades in, and you can just barely make out in the background the sound of “Make her a member of the midnight crew” Then for the first part of actual music, I used a melody for another crazy boss song I’ve made for Desynced. Though at the time of me writing this that song is not out yet, just something for you to look forward to! Also there’s a melody being played on the devious DSK Saxophone; strike again you glorious horrible instrument!! After that you get some harsh genesis synths playing an edited version of the “Black”/”Liquid Negrocity” melody. Right after that, it’s into the song that this one is named after, “Ballad of Jack Noir”. I told you, foreshadowing it a literary device!!! I warned you dog!! Also yeah, I do realize it was also in like 3 other songs in this album, haha. The drums for both of these parts is very much based off of the drums in “Oppa Toby Style”. There’s also a synth doing some crazy arpeggios that’s inspired by that song as well. Then there’s a bit of “Midnight^2”/”Double Midnight” played on a square synth, I’m putting all the jacks in this song. Eventually we get to where there’s a lot of sample splicing of “I’m a Member of the Midnight Crew”, which is inspired by ”Double Midnight” and “Unexpectancy”. 2:50 is where I consider the “Phase 2” part to have begun. Here I brought in some acoustic guitar playing, it’s not the most stunning acoustic guitar playing you’ll ever hear, but I still did my best. I originally was going to have the lead guitar be me playing here, but I couldn’t come up with anything good enough on the real instrument so I whipped out the trusty Ultimate Guitar Kit 2 soundfont and wrote something that I proclaim to be “UTTERLY EPIC”, or so I hope at least. Once we reach the end of this phase, at 5:07 we hear a familiar part from earlier in the song. This was to bring it back around and re-anchor the listener, before going into the final phase. This is the phase where one jack finds within his soul the power to conquer the devil, and as he was told, “Claim what is yours”. It’s time to go ham. But of course! Before that we have a badass heavy riff played on the guitar, and then it time to unload some SHIT. Here I brought in the motif from “I’m Sorry” an emotional reprise for a climactic moment. This was possibly my favorite part to write, and honestly, I can’t believe I was actually able to play the rhythm guitar part here, haha. Guess I must actually be getting better!! I then did the thing once again where it goes to the four chord to develop the song more (Wow!! So epic!!!). Then we go right back into “Black”. Then “I’m Sorry” again, and then one final “Black”. The final section is a reprise of the first saxophone section, but slower, then we build up with the “I’m a Member of the Midnight Crew”, setting up expectation, before breaking it with the scream of a victorious jack.

Well done, you’ve won the battle of a lifetime.