006.5 - The Deep Dive - Tower of the Sun - Reset Notes and Interview

 

The deep dive is for readers who want to dig further into the album by reading the notes and pre-review interview that is done with each artist.  It is best read after the review.

Notes

(x) Indicates being cut from vinyl release.

Guilt (x) - Reverb and guitar chords open up the album.  The chords have a phasing effect on them that really lends to an ethereal tone and a sense of otherworldliness.  Right at a minute in the beat starts and the kick is extremely pronounced and grounded compared to the rest of the sounds on display.  The melody is taken over by a bright chime and it has some very cool yet simple progressions to it.  The guitar and other phased effects are still in the background and they compliment the main melody nearly perfectly.  I love how the song establishes the backbone so prominently and then keeps it while our attention is diverted elsewhere.  About 2:30 the song goes through a huge change, the guitars are gone and the lead synth takes on a "hit" type sound where we have single notes hitting with the kick drum at the same time.  Just like before it is established as the backbone before another shiny synth lead comes in.  This time the backbone isn't nearly as "backgroundy" as it was in the first part of the song but it still works.  Another shift at 4:15, back to the chill tone of the start of the song.  Man this thing is all over the place in the best way possible, nice A-B-A styling.  Great way to start off the album and really establish a lot of the sounds that are going to be on display throughout the coming tracks.

Ground Zero - Something akin to an alien ship beaming someone up starts off the song before it's quickly overshadowed with another bright synth.  I really like the choice of lead instruments to this point, giving the album a nice identity.  Everything is still phased reminding us that yes this is in vaporwave, but it has some tones to it that are atypical for a vaporwave release.  The typical slow slog of a vaporwave song isn't here, this has more of a feel of being underwater or at the bottom of the ocean type feel with the way the effects are layered onto the instruments.  This track is really short and acts as a segway.  Even though it's short it helps keep the tone that was set by 'Guilt' keeping the album on a strong pace.  So far the album has a very distinct sound to it - bright synths, phased backgrounds, simple leading melodies, TONS of reverb, and tasteful use of effects and ambience.

Escape (x) - Keeping right where 'Ground Zero' left off the tone is set by a muted synth playing a short repeating melody.  This is once again used to style the background of the song because when the main melody comes in this time it's quite different from the first two tracks while still retaining the core feel of the album.  The drums are dominant as they were in 'Guilt' but there is a low pulsing hum that goes with it that gives this some d e p t h.  My god I love this combo.  The main melody is played on multiple instruments, a synth that is not nearly as bright as some of the other ones used to this point for the lead work, and a piano (used as both background and main melody).  There are a few points where the song has that 'hit' style sound where everything hits at the same time and it's used to transition from one section to another, a flute comes in shortly after along with a phased pad that has that similar bright feeling.  This whole song is something else, it effectively retains that feeling of otherworldliness that was established so early in the album.  The song ends very passively compared to most of the run time, but it works very well to transition into exile.

Exile - Percussion right away.  Some loungy type synths and some cool hi-hat work lend this song a very chill atmosphere to start.  Its really amazing how the artist has gone through four tracks of pretty different styles while still maintaining that identity of a cohesive style.  Not easily achieved.  About half way through the percussion is dropped and the song goes into a semi-ambient section, this is similar to the feel of ground zero but the main lead is much more subdued.  Love how the album settles into a groove and then have a sudden but well done transition into something different.  The percussion is added back in and the end takes us back to that A-B-A styling of 'Guilt'.  Pretty sweet track.

Dilapidated Heart - Well for the first time there is a pretty jarring transition on the album, if you are listening on headphones the running water just stops and is replaced by a very simple guitar riff.  The riff has similar effects as used in the beginning of Guilt but the execution is completely different, this is just two different notes played back to back put through a phaser so it has a traveling effect on it.  The whole song has a similar effect as it travels from ear to ear.  Its almost as if we're listening to the musical equivalent to a slow moving pendulum.  The first half of the song has that same hypnotizing effect, but as we would come to expect by this point it starts transitioning into something quite different about half way through.  This transition though is not nearly as sudden as some of the other ones.  This one is a transition from musicality to ambiance.  The tones that started the song slowly decay into a background... thing... I don't know how else to put it.  It's still there but it's not musical anymore.  The song continues to decay until there is nothing left but a shadow of once was there.  If this is a musical statement of someone slowly fading away or losing the will to do something it is masterfully done.

Lost - Sequoias and some odd country sounds start off the song before it quickly changes pace into a distant piano.  The piano sounds like you would hear in a dream sequence: reverb and slightly 'not of this world.'  The reverb continues to grow on the piano and its eventually regulated to a background instrument as the synth pads move in and begin to overtake the song.  Some percussion is added in and the period of ambience in this portion of the album has come and gone.  The song isn't very musical to start but instruments are slowly added in to give this portion of the song more body and a fuller sound.  What sounds like a harpsichord takes over the main melody and drives the song at a deliberately slow pace over percussion, phased synth pads and odd piano sections.  This part of the song keeps growing and really seems to work towards some kind of goal... maybe not even a goal but a journey to somewhere.  Every time the main melody repeats something new is added until you have this absolutely dense and massive sound going on in the middle of the track.  This track is about the opposite of 'Dilapidated Heart', whereas the previous song fades and decays over time this one grows and blooms.  This selection of two songs is probably my favorite part of the album with how well they compliment each other.  

Fill the Void - After the huge song of 'lost' the short sequence seen on this track is almost needed.  It's only a few minutes long and it is very fragile.  It plays around with its sound in a very similar manner to 'Ground Zero' and acts as a soft moment for the listener to catch their breath.  There is no percussion in this song and most of it has a floaty feeling where some soft synth pads canvas the background and are accompanied by some simple yet prominent leads.  I can't tell the instrument used for the leads, maybe an effects laiden guitar? Either way this song has a singular focus and stays with it, very nice album pacing and interlude.

Life in Death - This one starts with a sound similar to an old CRT turning on.  Ambient soundscapes wash over and over again with huge amounts of echo.  There are some classic vapor type vocals used here, but the execution is very different.  Indeed they are slowed down but the effects used on them almost give them a gregorian chant type feel.  The echo is so pronounced that it will often obscure what the vocalist is saying.  There also appears to be the sounds of a seagull going along with it.  This track is the most stripped back the album has been, being pure ambience... no real sense of melody or meter.  The sense of this being otherworldly or etherial is huge here.  Life in Death... the title calls into question what the artist had in mind here.  Very interesting track, well done.

Come to Terms (x) - This track is the return to melody and structure that has been absent from the past two tracks.  Strong piano chords and a phased synth pad are accompanied by a very slow back beat.  A guitar is also playing over this, I didn't notice it at first but when the lead comes in I noticed it very readily.  Going back it's there from the start of the track.  Love missing things and then coming back and hearing them on a future listen.  The main melody is changed between a guitar and a piano, both have minimal effects on them, deviating it from a lot of the production on the album so far.  The track leaves as quickly as it came.  I'm not sure what I think of this track, for some reason it just doesn't catch me as so many of the other tracks have.  It's great for album pacing but the execution is just a bit off.

Reset - A phased guitar chord starts us off.  Immediately this one grabs me and makes me wonder where we are going.  The song has the quality of music that I would want to listen to on a journey through wilderness.  An absolutely stunning piano lead comes in and brings me back to playing Secret of Mana with the combination of reverb and notes played.  This is really excellent, one of my favorite passages on the album.  Going back to the transitions first shown in 'Greed' everything suddenly stops as we move to a 'B' section, the guitars strum a couple of chords and notes before the piano and percussion come back in.  The feeling of Secret of Mana returns full force.  Man this is a good track, it has that "we are nearing the end of the album" type feel to it, and I love it when artists do that.  I have no idea what that quality is but I know it when I hear it.  One of the best tracks on the album.  

In the Dark - The intro to this one seems so off at first.  Like a jazz bar with an upright bass playing. As soon as the synths come in though it all works together perfectly. It does indeed have somewhat of a jazz feel but it absolutely works in the context of the album.  Sticking with the jazz theme, the rhythm backbone has been established over the first minute or so before some reverbed chimes/bells come in as the lead.  The middle of the song again has a stark stripped down transition that acts mostly like a breakdown before the original composition comes back in.  This song has a different feel from the rest of the album while still maintaining the sense of cohesiveness that I discussed in the earlier tracks.  Interesting but cool way to end the album.  

Overall - Man this thing is a lot to take in with active listening.  There is so much going on in some of these songs.  I absolutely love the album flow, there was a lot of thought put into the order of these songs and I hate that some of them were cut for the vinyl release.  The strongest part of the album for me is the combination of dilapidated heart and lost.  That feeling of everything being lost and decayed in dilapidated heart is completely reversed by the way lost builds and builds.  I like a lot of the A-B-A structure that some of the longer songs have.  The transitions are a bit jarring in their execution, almost acting like a tap on the shoulder to make sure we're paying attention.  I have to think that this is intentional though because there are also transitions that are smooth as butter.  I enjoyed how many of these songs return to the original structure but with some wrinkles, things aren't exactly the same; almost how a classical piece is composed. The way the songs are produced and the way effects are applied give this album a very cohesive feel.  There are quite a few different styles on display here but none feel out of place because of these common themes.  Well composed, structured and executed album.  Going to be fun to review.  


Question and Answers

In Greed and Escape along with a few other tracks there are a few very sudden transitions.  Was there a reason behind this stylistic choice rather than having a smoother transition?

In Guilt, the transition to the B section was based around a guitar chord that I liked. It added a different flavor that allowed me to take the song in a slightly different direction and then resolve back to the original feeling, but in a new key. With Escape, the goal was to create something a bit dramatic, but then resolve to something a bit more serene, in an attempt to illustrate how it feels to run away from terrible situations.

On Dilapidated Heart and Lost there seems to be this "entering and leaving the valley' type feeling, where DH slowly fades into ambience and then Lost slowly builds from a very subtle melody into this massive swell.  It's very powerful and it's my favorite part of the album, musically and structurally.  Was there any type of musical narrative you were trying to accomplish with this pairing of songs?  What do these songs mean to you?

Funnily enough, Dilapidated Heart was written far earlier than the rest of the album back in 2019, while Lost was the last song to be written. I like to view this part of the album as the main feature, and I think Lost is one of the best songs I've managed to put together. In my eyes, Dilapidated Heart sort of represents not really being able to feel anything, a sort of catatonic state. Lost is kind of like reality slowly but surely hitting you in the face and feeling all these terrible emotion collapse into you.  Lost is definitely the answer to the question of Dilapidated Heart.

You said before that the album is your most personal.  Why do you say that? Be as detailed or as vague as you want with this.  

This album is probably the most personal of mine that I have created because I was essentially making it to help me crawl out of a prolonged depression, it kind of gave me a purpose where I felt I had none. It serves as a window into my emotional state.

Was there any kind of story you were trying to tell with the album as a whole or any combination of songs that are interconnected?

I would say the narrative of the album at its core is focused on the experience of watching someone very close to you slowly disconnect and walk away, day by day. At the same time, I wanted to capture that emotional quality, but in a more imaginative and surreal context. I kind of like to imagine that humanity itself was reset in some sort of catastrophic event, and that the remaining people have to pick up the pieces. My hope is that people connect and interpret the story of the album in their own way, to create their own personal and interesting narrative.

Life in Death stands out as a purely ambient track and has the vocals remind me a bit of Gregorian Chants.  What was your inspiration for this song?  With so many of the songs having a similar feel and structure what made this one so different?

Life in Death I was inspired to create from sampling a song that I heard in my music history class. I can't quite remember the name, but it was a very early example of the use of chromaticism and very large harmony. That really spoke to my ear, and I thought it could be compelling when paired with other sounds that suited the narrative.

What kind of equipment did you use while recording this album? (You do not have to answer this)

A lot of the album is a mix of song samples, a microkorg analogue synth, a Fender Stratocaster with a lot of digital effects, and vst synths. On Dilapidated Heart, I used a borrowed Schector Diamond Series 7 string and an analogue delay pedal instead of the Fender.

How do you usually go about writing your songs?

My song writing process usually starts from one element, usually chords that I can use as a foundation to build everything else on top of. Whenever I use samples, I try to see them as a canvas that I can paint over with my own original work. I think timbre is one of the most important things to me, so I spend a lot of time tweaking the sounds until they feel right most of the time.

Several songs were cut from the vinyl release, could you detail how those selections were made? Was editing some of the longer songs down considered so that no full tracks would need to be cut?

In regards to the songs cut from the vinyl, VILL4IN made the decision on which songs to cut and which to keep to ensure a high quality pressing. I was honestly really happy with the end result, it feels more cohesive than the original release. I felt that Guilt and Come to Terms did not really meet the vision I had wanted to create in terms of mixing. However, I do wish Escape had been kept because I think it is a pretty strong track, and people seem to connect with that one particularly.


Were any samples used in creating this album?

Almost every song features a sample except for Guilt, Reset and Come to Terms. I used one from a very well known N64 game as well as a track from Neon Genesis Evangelion. That one I feel worked particularly well because the show shares a lot of similar themes to the album. A large majority of the samples though come from a not very well known game called Knytt. On the track In the Dark, my personal favorite, I sampled a song from said game titled Bouncy. It is one of the most lonely and pensive songs I have ever heard, and it has given me warmth in the darkest of times. If you want to really understand me, listen to that song.

How did you come up with the alias of Tower of the Sun? Does it have some meaning to you?

The name Tower of the Sun is based on a dream I had when I was a young teen. I was very depressed, and I would sleep a lot during the day in order to run away from my problems. I had a dream I was on top of a very large tower with a large group of people. The sun shone brightly with not a cloud in the sky and there was a large pool of water below with many other people in it. On the part I was standing on, there was the insignia of the sun, sort of similar to a compass. In my personal lore for the project, I like to think of the Tower of the Sun as a world eater type entity, entering in through the mind of a troubled individual and slowly distorting reality into a highly dissociative and dreamlike space.

UPDATE (December 2020): The Tower of the Sun represents an escape from the physical world, allowing troubled people rest.  But if they aren't careful, they may get sucked into the escape and only live in dreams.