Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Cinis Cinerem

My last song of 2023. "Only" 11 this year rather than the 13 in the years prior but what can i say, time doesn't get any slower and there are so many things to do.

For this song, I wanted to do something different by aiming for a clean composition as many of my recent projects tended to become quite overloaded and chaotic. To achieve this, I deliberately refrained from using reverb or hall effects, as they make the songs sound quite big but often muddy (like in "Outlaws in Space").

It all started with a bell-like sound, which you can hear right from the beginning and evolving throughout the song. I find myself handling the (multi-voiced!) melodies and chord progressions much more fluidly and better now than a year ago, which makes me quite happy. Especially with the variations and transitions.

After constructing the house beat and melodies, I wanted to add a mechanical ticking sound because it felt fitting in line with the winding clockwork music box vibe. I don't particularly have a time fetish like some other artists might, but a ticking clock does sound amusing at times. The ticking is just a few high-pitched snares (#sounddesign 😎). At that point, I imagined I was making a remix of an existing song, except I was creating both the "original" and the actual end product myself, much like I did with "Zeldor" back then.

The title and the artwork don’t contribute much, but they're meant to match the vibe of "the old music box in the attic that nobody cares about until someone adds a beat and bass to it" and perhaps playfully poke at that idea.

There are a few "The Menu" (2022)-like hand claps that occasionally break the whole ensemble. Initially, they were just playful additions but they fit into the underlying meaning too.

Some test listeners mentioned that the beginning sounded a bit like an alarm clock until I transposed it from major to minor.

Some fun facts:
- the cover was done in gimp
- the bpm slow down and speed up from time to time
- production officially began in october 23

Ed Ryan:
Bandcamp: edryanmusic.bandcamp.com
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/5G7ETKqgIXsxS4FNK2N7GI?si=naWDeZYFSyavdn86H1y8Ww
YouTube: youtube.com/c/EdRyan