Observations From A Deep Sea Vessel

Artwork by Eclipse Afterglow Studios

Alright I'm going to do a new series of blog posts so I finally get off my ass and actually make a post more often than once every 3.5 years.

As an instrumental artist, I often start with an image/concept and then create the music to fit that image. It can be an odd thing to do when you are not relying on lyrics and words to paint the picture for you. I thought it would be cool to write posts about different tracks and focus on the inspiration, imagery, and maybe a bit of the process for each. 

Let's get into my latest single "Observations From A Deep Sea Vessel". Press play on the player below to listen as you read, or hop on over to your favorite streaming platform. 

I was in Atlanta in February for a work trip and decided to go on my own to the Georgia Aquarium after work one of those afternoons. My first stop was the shark exhibit. I happened to notice there was heavy percussion music playing out of the speakers as a sand tiger shark swam directly towards where I was standing straight on. In the moment I thought "I should make a shark track to release during Shark Week!".

I've always had a fascination with sharks and am an avid fan of Shark Week each year. I was actually a little disappointed in myself I hadn't already had that idea!

But by the time I made my way through the rest of the aquarium and saw the variety of ocean life there, I had made up my mind to not just make it a "shark instrumental", but to make a track with many parts representing different scenes in the ocean. It felt like a challenge, but, one that was right up my alley and something I thought I could do.  Most of my music has a horror or sci-fi theme, so it's cool to expand out into other things too while making it my own.

Soon after my return home from the trip, it was time to dive into it. Pun intended, sorry. I figured pretty quickly into the process that the track would be mostly really chill and ambient, but would be interrupted with moments of building tension and a heavy "shark attack" musical representation. This meant playing around with my synthesizer quite a lot, as well as finding and mixing in cool ocean sounds like waves, underwater bubbles, whales, all that good stuff. But then of course, it also meant grabbing the guitar and cranking it up! 

After I had a lot of the parts figured out and recorded, an idea struck me that really helped me to tie it all together. I imagined thinking about this track as a journey through the ocean in a one-person deep sea vessel. This helped to informed the way sections transitioned from one to the next, including a recurring drum beat and sonar sounds that serve as a transition from one "scene" to the next. 

Honestly, if you'd rather have your own imagery and interpretation in your mind as you listen and would rather not know what I was thinking, you can skip the rest of this post. I will break down some specifics including timestamps of the imagery I had in mind as I worked through the concept of a musical representation of the ocean as observed through a one-person sea vessel descending deeper and deeper into the ocean. 

The first 45 seconds to me just represent starting at the surface of the ocean with the initial descent down. The vessel becomes fully submerged, sucking down some ocean water with it as you happen upon waters full of life. Real ocean sounds, descending synthesizer notes, voice, and a relaxed drum and bass sound all help to set the tone.

From 0:45-1:10, your vessel levels off as you happen across a particularly lively part of the sea. Coral reef, colorful fish, sea turtles, and sting rays happily exist while a friendly dolphin playfully swims alongside your vessel. Harmonious vocals, singing whale sounds, and cinematic drums bring the scene to life. 

The sounds of the sonar and the break beat of the drum from 1:10-1:23 is the sound of your vessel exiting one ocean scene and entering another. 

Things get a little more mysterious, but remain harmless from 1:23-1:49 as a voice tells you "The ocean has withheld its secrets."  A group of electric eels poke their heads out as you pass by, a giant squid propels itself away in the distance, an enormous basking shark inhales plankton below you, and an impossibly large school of fish swim in a perfectly synchronized circle above you. A tense synthesizer and drum beat set the tone while a low bassoon note symbolizes the large creatures. 

But at 1:49, a hole suddenly forms in the circle of fish, revealing the silhouette of a lone great white shark backlit by the sunlight above. The use of harmonious voices represent the surreal and mesmerizing sight it would be to observe a great white suddenly appear while on a hunt for its meal as you sit in relative safety in your vessel. The drum beat starts thumping and spare 3-note (synthesized) double bass notes play as the shark hones in on its prey. The shark ascends full speed onto an unsuspecting seal swimming by at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

After a quick moment of near silence except for a sound emitting from your vessel, the shark's open mouth strikes the seal! Heavy guitar is blaring while the shark violently shakes its head as it tears apart its prey. Violins build in the background and trumpets sound as you are reminded that "The ocean is a dangerous jungle." Unfortunately for the seal, it meets its end but the shark is now satisfied.  I was definitely just going for "heavy rock Jaws theme" as an influence here. Duh. 

Things get really interesting at 2:35 as your vessels descends into the deepest depths of the ocean. The overhead sunlight entirely disappears. At these depths, bioluminescence is found. Jellyfish light up in neon colors, a crablike creature emits a rainbow pattern, and an angler fish swims ahead of you serving as your headlights. It's so dark, and yet you feel the glow as trippy synthesizer notes buzz around and shimmer by like all the surprising sea life that is thriving down here. 

Every good journey has to end. At 3:26 your vessel makes it's safe ascent. You hear one last whale song as you reach the surface. 

Pretty ridiculous right? I really have no clue if any of the above would be apparent whatsoever while listening, but seeing those images really is how I mostly operate.

I always find certain things that help to inspire the overall sound as well along the way while while working on projects. Listening to what they called "Trip-Hop" from the 90's really came in handy. One album I came across that I was not already familiar with is called Throbbing Pouch by Wagon Christ.  It came out in 1995, it sounds amazing. ​

Wagon Christ - Throbbing Pouch album (1995)

Of course, I already mentioned the Jaws theme as composed by the legendary John Williams. But really, I listened to the whole thing and also happened to be listening to the Jaws novel on audiobook pretty early on in the making of the track. That part is coincidental, but, nice when that works out! There were definitely some instrumentation choices that played an influence. 

Jaws Original Sound Track - John Williams

The bioluminescent sea life is always one of the coolest things to see at any aquarium or when there's footage of it on documentaries and Discovery shows. An obvious parallel I thought about a lot is the episode of WIll Smith's Welcome To Earth series on Disney+ where he does indeed go in a vessel all the way down to the depths where the bioluminescent sea life is. It's honestly some of the most amazing footage I've ever seen. I hate that Will Smith had to slap Chris Rock like that, but I can't hate on some of the images from that show! 

Mr. Slappy's Welcome To Earth