Towers

Well, it took literal years, but I did it. I made an album. Anyone who has known me for the past few years will attest to my horrendous procrastination, and then the part where I actually finished the music almost a year before the actual release… but it’s here now, and I’m very happy about it.

I’ve said this once before and now look back on it and laugh, but I’m going to dare to say it again. The production quality on this album is a quantum leap beyond everything I’ve put out until now. Even though I already look at this album and see a bunch of production errors that I now know how to avoid, I’m still fully confident in that statement. I’m particularly proud of the seamless transitions between tracks and the progression of the final track. But anyway, the music speaks for itself, I’m not writing a review of my own album, listen to it yourself. Also, I bet you’ll never guess my incredibly obvious influences here! Never ever… (Really, I’m kind of self-conscious about how obvious it gets in a couple of places, but not self-conscious enough to change it.)

It’s not just about the music with this album though. This is the beginning of something much larger for me. Hard to say how far that will actually go knowing me, but I’m going to put my all into it. I’ve been worldbuilding, you see… and world destroying.

This album tells a story. The first story, to be precise. It is the origin story of the world I’ve built, starting at the birth of the characters shown and ending at an apocalypse. A while back, I hinted at one of my other songs, Before the Dust Settles having its own story… well this is where it slots in, right after that apocalypse. That’s a fun fact.

There’s a lot of stuff in this world, most of which isn’t covered in this album and won’t be revealed in this post, especially since I’m still constantly adding and revising things. But, at the very least, this story is complete. These characters are more than just designs, they have all been through a massive development cycle and are fully realized. They also have the power to reshape the world around them, so momentum is high.

First, there’s Kerosyn, my namesake. No, he is not me, but he is important so I figured it was fitting. Kerosyn is a tiny mischievous fox boy that’s always happy. His attention span is as short as he is, and “maturity” is not in his lexicon. He controls fire, and is in fact made of it. His hobbies include food, pranks, sports and games, and being a goofball. Quite popular with children as a result. His idealistic and friendly nature makes him the ultimate bully stopper. He also quite likes agriculture for some reason… I guess he really likes food. He’s eager to experience everything the world can offer, especially if it’s edible.

This is Freya. Freya is a very tall, quite muscular cat girl with a hot temper in more ways than one. Fierce and flirtatious, she always has an ulterior motive so just hope you never meet her. She has a silver tongue, boundless confidence, not an ounce of shame, and a penchant for flashy theatrics, always stealing the spotlight in any interaction and using it to humiliate whatever poor soul got on her bad side. Unless she pulls out the guns, that is, of which she has a huge collection. However, anyone with an ego big enough to compete with hers will be shown great respect, and may even see her softer side. Also, motorcycles.

This is Florian. Florian is a freakishly lanky crow guy with brain problems and ridiculous physical durability. He is the ultimate edgemaster. His arms are constantly pouring out weird black smoke and his feathery hands are sharp, so be careful with handshakes. His personality can only be described as that of an old fashioned evangelist. He has resting psycho face, an unfortunately devilish laugh, mutters constantly, and talks to birds and plants. His ego is massive, but it’s all an act, really he has a huge superiority complex. Under the crazed exterior, he’s a big softie, even sparing the lives of the smallest insects.

There’s also this guy, but don’t mind him, he just kinda hangs out and watches things happen. He is the narrator, and he would like to tell you that there’s more detailed information on the characters and their story if you buy the album on Bandcamp or use the Toneden download gate thing. If you’re into that. No pressure. And you can ask questions about the characters if you’re curious, there will be answers.

But if you don’t want to read mister narrator’s version of the story (or just don’t want to use Bandcamp or the Toneden thing), I’ll give you the short version.

It starts with two. The entire world was created by two gods. Those two gods made 11 lesser gods, and a few of those new gods made 3 even lesser ones. All these gods made all the various things that inhabit the world, like humans, animals, and human-animal hybrids referred to as “spirit people”, along with things like basic law, language, culture, and so on. Eventually, one of the gods got tired of it all and decided that he deserved more power, so he went for it and eventually most of the other gods were dead and the world was in a sharp decline. At this point, one of the remaining gods made a bargain with him. Six spirit people would be selected and brought to fight in a knockout tournament, winner fights the greedy god, ultimate winner takes all. This is where the album starts.

Kerosyn was abandoned as a child and grew up without parents, a home, or even friends, as what few friends he did make would quickly abandon or betray him. But eventually there was one little village that really accepted him, and he was happy. Much later, when he returned from a days-long errand, he found his newfound home razed and soon fell himself to the people who did it. Freya, the one sent by the gods to pick a contestant for the tournament, found him near death at this point and chose him, which caused him to attain the form he has today. The two of them spent a long time traveling together after that, doing good deeds and having fun rather than training since Kerosyn seemed to already know how to hold his own. They became inseparable, like the family they never had.

Florian, who had been watching all the chosen contestants from afar ever since the deal was struck, thought Kerosyn seemed the most promising and joined them, promising to share information with them as he had his own reasons to take down the greedy god. Kerosyn won the tournament, but Freya and Florian were killed in the crossfire, leaving him feeling sad and lost. Then the last remaining god – one of the original two creators – resurrected Florian and Freya and gave them each a third of her power, putting them nearly on her level, then searched for Kerosyn to give him the final third. After that, the last god ceased to exist, leaving only these three as the reigning gods of the desolate world. So then Kerosyn burned the whole thing to the ground, y’know, as you do, and let the few survivors rebuild from the ashes.

There’s a lot to unpack there and even the detailed version included with the album doesn’t truly cover everything, but I like it like that. A lot of what I do from this point forward will be based in this world, developing it as I go. And developing musically I guess, that’s a nice bonus.

Also I got this cool CD printed for the album because I could. It’ll never be reprinted so if they’re gone when you’re reading this, they’re gone. It feels weird to hold this myself, knowing everything that went into it and how long it took to become a reality… kind of surreal, even. Both me and mogy were worried about the print quality, but it turned out fantastic.

Speaking of mogy, I have to give the big thank for the wonderful artwork and generally being such a joy to work with. Genuinely a fantastic artist and certified cool person.

While I’m at it, I’ve got plenty more people to thank. Thanks to Rain, Madbuns, and Wrathes respectively for bringing the designs for Kerosyn, Freya and Florian to life with me.

Thanks to A Cerulean State for helping me with the more delicate piano work in track 10.

Thanks to vert-hex and epi- chord for lending me their keen ears in the mixing process.

Big thanks to a certain person for dealing with my shenanigans and procrastination for literal years to bring this story together, you know who you are. This would be a very different story without your influence.

Finally, a huge thanks to the Tripulse community for being cool people, sticking with me, and being so supportive. You’re all very important to me, like a second family.

Oh, thanks to you too if you like any of this, or support my album or whatever, I appreciate you.

Get it here. Or look at these pretty embedded things. Plus, if you make music yourself, I’ve made stems for the whole album available on Splice and Mega if you’re interested.