I'm a bit emotionally exhausted after writing the previous entry (see "A Christ-Like Perversion") and it was originally partly intended to introduce this record, but it was far too personal to inject any sort of marketing into. So I think I'm going to keep this one short and focus solely on marketing points, with a little information about the new songs.
Presenting Selenophilia:
As I feel a certain devotion to my Snail Tunes audience and to keeping my music mostly non-commercial in nature (a difficult balancing act when one wishes to actually make a living from making music), it's been difficult to have songs original to a commercial album (August's Occultation) and not have them available from the Snail Tunes store. They have been available, to an extent, as incentives for my audience to participate in the crowd-funding options I've been exploring, and they've been available to stream... But they have yet to be available, as my music largely is, for a "price of your choosing, no minimum," meaning "free with option to tip."
Well, "A Most-Resilient Snail" and "An Arcane Son" have been available. And now, three more songs that made their debut on Occultation have been included on this latest record (something in between an EP and an album...shit, that's giving away too much!), Selenophilia. With this release, I've aimed for a bit of a "night walker" vibe, essentially naming it "love of the moon" with a picture of a man who spent most of his life observing the moon and obsessing over its geography, Johan Friedrich Julius Schmidt, with his model of the moon (and the damned Snail sneaking its way into the picture) on the cover. The songs are either dark in tone or mellow in mood.
I began planning this record while working on Nefelibata, including "I, Supplicant" on it from its conception and adding "Slowly Scooting Closer" upon that song's creation. From those two songs, it was easy to have a feel for the direction this release was taking, and I knew from the get-go that "An Arcane Son" and "A Most Resilient Snail" would not be included on it, which is why those two songs had an early release on a single of their own. When I created that two-song single, however, I was neglecting another song: "I Will Dim My Light Only Enough To Not Blind You." I thought about re-releasing the single with this song added on, but I had already re-released the single once; during the final stages of Selenophilia's creation, I actually considered including it on this track list, but it just wouldn't have worked with the other songs. So, for the time being, "I Will Dim My Light Only Enough To Not Blind You" remains exclusive to Occultation and as a reward for paying supporters of my crowd-funding campaigns. My bad.
However, you are treated with the final remix of "Giger's Lullaby," "The Last Waltz." And while I believe each song is deserving of special mention, of particular note is that this version of "The Cloud Walkers" is revised, edited, and remastered for this release, and the download includes a display of more artwork from Tyrone Webb (the artist behind the cover of Occultation) when played. That particular piece is called "Cloud Burst." To see a larger version, as well as more of Tyrone's artwork, and to explore the opportunity to support his work, please visit his official website and his Patreon.
I consider "The Cloud Walkers" to be my magnum opus, and I'll probably continue making adjustments to it for quite a while, so you can expect it on more records. Also, Alejandro Saldarriaga Calle of The Arcane Insignia has been working on lyrics and vocals for the song, and our collaborative version is unfolding. Alejandro has also recorded vocal tracks based on my own from the demo of "Lily White," a new song of unexpectedly epic length that can be found on this latest release. As this is very close to the example that I sent to Alejandro when asking him to sing for this song, it is very much a demo version and a version featuring his vocals is how the song was originally intended. It is in the works and will hopefully be included on the next release (whatever that may be).
Oh, gods! I just realized I'm releasing a record without any plans or vague ideas of what's coming next! I do believe this is a first!
...And with that little revelation, I do believe I've covered everything I intended. As this was released yesterday, on my birthday, it is my birthday gift to you, because I've always enjoyed giving gifts on my birthday. It's a thing for me, don't ask me why. I hope y'all enjoy it.
P.S. As a special treat for paying supporters, I will be adding "Lily White (Sin Palabras)" - the original instrumental recording of the song - to the rewards later on today.
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