The Sea Meets the Sky: A Year Later
Where it started, kind of.
In February of 2024 I released an EP called “The Sea Meets the Sky”. It was the first cohesive piece of music I had ever released after figuring out exactly what I wanted MEGAFAUNA to be.
It turned a year old last month, and I honestly had forgotten that it happened and so it passed, unremarked on. I thought now, more than a month later, I would listen to it again and see what feelings it evoked and if there was anything worth writing about. I hope you enjoy this.
In the meantime, you can listen to it while you read:
This album still only has one review, on the Bandcamp page, and I still use a pull quote from it when I’m marketing myself:
“Absolutely phenomenal dungeon Synth. Dark, gloomy, politically charged. A productive dialogue among the online left is spot on, even if that's painful to admit.” - Mike Hall
Mike, I don’t know if we know each other but thank you. Truly.
I figure the best way to do this is just to go through it track by track. Reflect as I go. Apologies for the navel gazing, but I hope it’s entertaining all the same.
The Sea Meets the Sky (2024, 12 Minutes, Syrup Moose Records)
“The Sea”
I remember when I was starting and struggling with learning to use DAW’s or find a sense of self, someone said “Have you tried just pushing all the buttons at once?” - I want to say it was Depression Quilt who said that… anyways, I tried it, and thus “The Sea” was born. Actually the track was originally called “Have you tried just pushing all the buttons” in honor of that suggestion.
“Ethical Consumption”
I don’t have any funny stories about this one really, sitting and listening to it, I really like the high hats that come in in the last minute or so, I think I’ve created an interesting shift in tone. If it wasn’t obvious, the voice at the end is saying “Give me some more” - the song pulls its themes from the the title, from the idea of there being any kind of ethical consumption in a capitalist system. The idea that no matter how hard we try, we are all trapped here.
“From Each According to Their Ability, to Each According to Their Needs”
Honestly, it sounds like the soundtrack to a dystopian science fiction film, and honestly, in the eyes of the right, what could be more dystopian than communism? This tenet of communism, From Each According to Their Ability, to Each According to Their Need, is one that I hold on to, even as I drift farther and farther to the left. I feel like having this as a basis for how we treat people would make so much difference in the way we exist and coexist.
“A Productive Dialogue Among the Online Left”
Honestly, I thought this was funny. That’s kind of all there is to it. It was an idea in my head that made me laugh, and so I moved forward with it. I had hoped to bring in more voices. The original concept was to get as many guest stars as possible to lend their atonal, guttural shrieks to this. I will be forever grateful to Espi Kvlt, Garry Brents, and Kirk Gauthier for being the ones to follow through. They really helped me bring this to life, and I owe them for that. Really, it’s a reflection on the fact that so much of our time on the left (typically online) is spent fighting with each other and screaming over each other. Imagine what we could do if we were on the same side… I think we forget that we have the numbers to make a difference, we just can’t seem to agree.
“My Hands Hurt From All the Wringing”
Would would have thought that a line from Forgetting Sarah Marshall of all things would allow me to express my trepidation about releasing music at all. The title expresses that angst too. What I’m doing isn’t music, what if everyone hates it? What if everyone is just being polite? What’s the fucking point? I’m too old for this anyways. On and on and on. These thoughts are, I’m sure, not unique to me - and faced by all creatives at a all times. I have to imagine many, if not all, of us could spend all of the time we spend making anything just fretting about whether there’s any point or not.
The Sky
A field recording of a particular windy night, and a very simple guitar sample and I think this closes the EP perfectly. Shouting into the wind, strumming into the wind, realizing that first and foremost, the art we make has to be for us, because it will be drowned out by the sound of everything else.
I’ll be the first to admit, this is not my most focused project. It doesn’t really have a cohesive theme other than to say “This is what MEGAFAUNA is, everything before this was something else, and THIS is MEGAFAUNA”. Which is something I think that I have stayed true to, splintering off into other projects when I feel like making something different. MEGAFAUNA represents a turning point for me, and the music I’ve made since starting has been… indescribable in its impact on my mental health.
I’ve tried my hands at plenty of different creative, cathartic outlets, and none of them have stuck, for plenty of reasons. Making music though… something I never would have thought I’d ever be able to do, that has been the thing. This 12 minutes of weird experiments represents the first time in 30+ years I had been able to get something out and not had it immediately come back.
This would only compound on itself in my next album, Venator. Which hits its 1 year next month, so maybe we’ll talk about it then.
Thanks <3
-Xadaa