Melody & Muse

March 31st 2025

Emergence Sleep Token PREVIEW   ​

What can I say. Sleep Token is back!!! They hit us with a new masterpiece after taking over the world with their album 'Take Me Back To Eden' over the last year or two. 'Emergence' is the first song of a new era for them as they gear up to release their next album 'Even In Arcadia' on May 9th.
If this is your first experience of them then I wish I was you. It's rare that I come across an artist that grips their audience with the same depth that Sleep Token does. The extent of the lore behind the band is seemingly limitless. They are fully anonymous and bound by no genre. Trying to explain to someone what Sleep Token are is ever increasingly challenging. With every release they transcend and defy the rules of music, songwriting, production, marketing and storytelling. The lead singer known as 'Vessel' pours unrivaled beauty and meaning into his lyricism and melodies that dance on top of some of the craziest drums you've ever heard from 'II' and unreal guitar, synth and bass production. I had the joy of seeing them live in Glasgow at the end of last year and it was the single coolest, most captivating live show I've ever seen. I love it all. It's very hard to pick but some of my top songs are 'Rain' 'The Summoning' and 'Ascensionism'. Dive into their world and let it take you to places that no other music can.

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When It's Raining Borderline PREVIEW   ​

This one is new but it feels unbelievably nostalgic. It makes me think of something my Dad would have taken great delight in showing me when I was a wild, uncontrollable kid with way too much energy for my own good. Now I have the joy of showing my dad. The piano and chords have such a throwback feeling to the sound of 'Queen' and 'The Eagles' and the chanting vocals of the chorus are really powerful towards the peak of the song. The video is gorgeous too. What a treat.

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ONANON Killen. PREVIEW   ​

life keeps moving, everything changes, the river keeps flowing.. on and on and on and on. I love the uplifting and expansive feeling that this song generates. It has a sense of longing and acceptance at the same time. The atmospheres and bird sounds in the background with the driving drums and synths make a perfect canvas for the vocals to dance around on and feels like a perfect soundtrack to keep riding the endless waves of life to.

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Vessel - Sleep Token

“Life is dark. Life is bright. Life is ugly. Life is beautiful. Don’t get lost in genres, they’ll only disorientate you. Music is for everyone.””

Vessel from Sleep Token doesn't do interviews or any public talking he just performs his music with the band. He did do one online interview and this quote came from it. It was so uplifting to hear because it's grounded in truth. Music is one of the most universally powerful forms of expression. When infused with deep emotion—whether joy, sorrow, anger, or euphoria, it has the ability to resonate with people on a profound level. If a song speaks to someone, if it moves them in any way, then it has done its job, regardless of where it fits in the musical landscape.

Genres have long served as a useful tool, helping us categorize artists and bodies of work, creating a sense of predictability that makes it easier to find music we enjoy. In the past, when people strongly identified with specific subcultures, genres acted almost like a badge of identity. Today, music consumption is more fluid than ever. Hardly anyone limits themselves to just one genre. If something sounds good, it sounds good—regardless of what label is attached to it. In summary genres are a good servant but a bad master. Labelling songs and artists under a genre is only so useful before it starts creating unnecessary limitation
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I speak on this point in further detail in the 'Question of the Month' below!

Myamoto Musashi ⚔️

“The Purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding”

I have a great appreciation for the value of this quote. It alludes to the limitless nature of learning. It encourages you to keep your mind open. To expect that your understanding can continue to upgrade. It has a sense of humility in that no matter how well you develop a skill or your knowledge of something, tomorrow is another opportunity to further enhance it. Seeking to triumph over your own limitations rather than over others is a valiant endeavour.

Marcus Aurelius

"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly.”

I remember having a visceral feeling in my body when I read this. Death is often treated as a distant or taboo subject, something to be feared and avoided. Yet, when we confront it directly, it has the power to illuminate what truly matters and empower not frighten.

If you genuinely pause and imagine yourself as having just died—feeling the finality of your existence up to this point and suddenly you were brought back from the doors of the endless end to right now, how would you feel differently? —what rises to the surface? Would your worries and distractions seem trivial? Would the fears that held you back feel as important? How would your regrets or wishes inform the present day version of you? This mental exercise strips away illusions and exposes what actually holds weight in your life. In that moment, what remains is a raw, unfiltered sense of what is truly meaningful to you.

Aurelius’ words suggest a way to harness this realization—not through despair, but through empowerment. If you see yourself as already gone, then whatever time you have left is a gift, a second chance to live with greater clarity, purpose, and authenticity. I guess it's like a more refined, introspective version of "YOLO"—not an excuse for reckless indulgence, but an urgent reminder to align your life with what truly means most to you.

Imagining your own death isn’t about morbidity; it’s about perspective. It allows you to cut through the noise of daily life, free yourself from unhelpful regrets or fears and lean fully into a life that really means something.

HAUSER - Adagio (Albinoni)

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I struggle to find words that effectively describe the extent of beauty and wonder that this piece of music elicits. The Cello has forever been my favourite instrument. It's so rich and soothing yet hauntingly melancholic in its nature. It was written by the musicologist and composer Remo Giazotto in the 1950s. Giazotto claimed that he based it on a fragment of a manuscript by Albinoni, discovered in the ruins of the Dresden State Library after World War II. However, no evidence of this fragment has ever been found, leading many to believe that Giazotto composed the entire piece himself.
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This rendition with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and HAUSER the cellist is just stunning (Hauser is a key member of '2 CELLOS' if you haven't discovered them yet just look for 'Thunderstruck' and prepare for a rollercoaster). There is a wide shot at 05:26 where the full organ, choir, strings and cello all swell to this overwhelming peak right before the end of the song and it's captivating. To think about the number of humans in that orchestra, the stories that led them to that point, the evolution of human musicality, musical instruments and the depth behind all of it coming together to form this piece of work feels miraculous. If you ever get a chance to go and see a live orchestra like this in person do it, it's like nothing else I've experienced.

Rupert Spira - Being Aware Has No Limits

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I have enjoyed Rupert's teachings for a while now and have been returning to them more deeply recently. Regardless of your beliefs or religious persuasion I find it very powerful to connect to the simple yet profound insights that he has to share. He lived most of his life working as a successful ceramic artist, known for his delicate and minimalist pottery and throughout his twenties and beyond he began exploring and learning about awareness and consciousness. This led him to being a full time teacher of these subjects. Wrapping your mind around these concepts and truths can often be tricky or feel confusing and futile but Rupert very skillfully simplifies it and grounds his teachings in what is true about our experience of being alive and being aware. He makes a point of emphasising the equal availability of these insights to everyone and that you don't have to be talented or gifted to grasp or connect to the truth of your awareness. In a practical sense his teaching help to give you distance and separation from your thoughts, the content of your experience, your attachments, fears or desires and reconnect you to the true foundation of your being.

Jon Bellion - WASH

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Jon is BACK!! He has been a lifetime favourite artist of mine since I first heard him in 2016 and if you haven't heard of him before then once again I wish I were you right now. Strap in and brace yourself for a journey. He has written incredible songs of his own but also for some of the biggest artists in the world including Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Halsey & Selena Gomez. He's been in a legal battle for the last few years fighting his way out of exploitative contracts to be able to release his own music on his own terms again and it's been quite an ordeal. I'm sure it will be something I will discuss more in future newsletters. Seeing him releasing again is that much sweeter knowing he has made his way through all of that.
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This video is a cinematic wonder and Jon is undeniably his uninhibited creative self. He has a melodic and rhythmic character that is so distinct and unique to him. He let's his feeling captivate his art. The visuals of fire and ice on the Icelandic glacier Mýrdalsjökull are second to none. I love the theme and meaning of this song. He spoke in recent interviews and a behind the scenes video of this song about his commitment to his family and a desire to make music that speaks to that and his faith. Written in devotion to his wife and the continued flourishing of their bond. I love the analogy Jon uses of 'treat your body like a river'. There is much to learn from rivers. They represent innocence and power simultaneously. They run strong for millions of years yet they are never the same river, embodying a constant process of renewal and letting go. They start as an innocent stream from the untouched heights of the mountain, fuelled by rainfall, effortlessly flowing their way to the limitless, undying ocean. The same water that falls from our eyes in the most heartfelt moments of our life. Keep your eyes peeled for more music to come from Jon. I can't wait!!

The GENRE question..
​@OberonF4e - The genres I like are not easy or popular ones, I feel it's very niche and I may end up not getting recognition. How should I approach this?

It's fascinating to me how commonly genre comes up in general music discussion but particularly in discussion about success in music. What makes it so interesting is the duality of advice that you will hear. Some say there is only good money in the mainstream genres, others say you should niche down so that you are more easily identifiable, meanwhile in reality you have every single style of genre being listened to by millions of people everyday. You see Artists finding success by blending them together, breaking the rules and pushing boundaries constantly, alongside artists that are leaning fully into mastering one style or genre.
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What I take from this is that you should make Genres work for you, not the other way round. Ask yourself what you want the outcome to be and reverse engineer it. Be mainstream if you'd like to be, be niche if that feels more aligned. Have one artist project that you pour everything into if that's what your heart wants, or have multiple aliases if you want to experiment and throw more ideas at the wall to see what sticks. If you like something, chances are there are a bunch of other people who do too. You want a balance of chaos and order. It can certainly help to have a core genre that acts as a foundation for your work, call that 'The Main Box'. Get a really good understanding of what fits in that box, but then think outside of it. All the best ideas tend to have enough familiarity that it feels like home, but enough variety that it feels novel and adventurous too. Sleep Token is a perfect example of artists who would be categorised as 'Metal' in simplistic terms but they are also Jazz, Nu Metal, Pop, Ambient, Indie, RnB, rock, Trap & electronic. At this point there are so many genre flavours that squeezing them into a box isn't helping anyone, they are just Sleep Token.

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New Umbrella Cover with Finn HP

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Finn HP and I teamed up to do a cover of the classic Rihanna song 'Umbrella'. It was quite an adventure putting it all together. We might have destroyed a piano that almost destroyed us trying to lift it over a wall into the field that we filmed in. I really hope you enjoy it. Check out the rest of Finn's work, his voice and musicality is other wordly and it's been epic to work with him.