Last night my latest release on Petcord called Decay went live on air. Decay is one composition consisting of four movements, the last one with reoccuring themes of the previous ones put together to a contrastive final. What the liner notes did not mention, is how the titles came into being and not without a reason: People may be tempted to misinterpret these titles as authoritative instruction about what to think of when listening to the work. I personally feel strong aversions towards degrading music to a mere transport means for some kind of message and only add these explanations “for the records”.

My enemy insight
This title is a pun and refers to being one’s own worst enemy (as in “enemy inside”) and being aware of the problem (hence “insight”). It matches to the rapid swing between agressive feedback, friendly ninth chords and menacing drones, similar to a confused state of mind where moods change from one extreme to another within minutes. Of course this is a subjective and distorted perception as this enemy is part of oneself. An enemy that once escaped our control and now seems to live a life of its own despite its irrational nature.

Behind the mask
In order to become an accepted member of society one is required to wear a mask of conformity. Picking up what is deemed most popular and advantageous rather than following one’s unique gifts. Or judging attitudes by their degree of popular acceptance rather than necessity or validity. As most people are trained at an early age to play this game successfully they may not be aware of it and consider it as natural as eating and sleeping. Some people are afraid of silence and solitude, because that may force them to discover the void behind the mask.

Wall of fear
This is another pun referring to the phrase “wall of silence”. It is meant to go one step further by not just stating an inconvenience as a result of something embarrassing or someone unresponsive to inquiries, but the mere prospect of getting into such a situation. The wall is not just a defence someone else has built up, but could refer to limitations defined by one’s own fears. Some may only have a funny feeling inside their stomach and move on, whilst others will stagger and tumble into a psychotic state of apathy.

last possible lie
Judging from the previous definitions one may conclude that life is lie. Lie in itself is considered inacceptable in most civilisations, yet our plastic fantastic age does force us to posture as someone who we not really are. In reference to the overall character to the music, this “last possible lie” appears as a resolution at first. But as the relief is the result of an escape, the actual issue still persists. The moment someone comes to realise this may mark the beginning of the collapse. This could be anything from insanity to suicide.

As written before, please be advised that this is only an attempt at explaining the history of the titles, not the music itself. Whilst working on them there did not exist any kind of concept or “story board” the music tried to follow and the titles where the last thing I added as a description of the sound characteristics. Hence you can associate with the music all you want and it will be a personal and correct way of utilising it. The music itself does not contain any other message other than itself.