The Egress Tree
(Video, 2021)

- Musical composition and production
- Video concept, production, and editing

This project consisted of creating music for a video, composing music in one of the modern diatonic modes. I chose the dream-like lydian mode to illustrate the sensation of flying or soaring. The concept of the video also correlates to this, as I imagine the tree functioning as a central point in a game, a portal, where the player is transported from one world to another.
 

The video can be seen as 3 parts, where the first is establishing an environment and a mood, conveying the feeling of nature as a magical, slightly mysterious, but still safe place. The dream-like cradling or swaying rhythm is produced by automated decelerations in tempo, comparable to using ritardandos in each bar. The second part starts when the whole tree is in view and the flight upwards begins; the take-off towards another world. Here I tried to emphasize an adventurous, slightly heroic feel, and build up to a musical and dynamic culmination. Then in the third part, you arrive in this new, upside down world, illustrated here with a change in harmony and instrumentation.

My inspiration for this piece came first and foremost from the tree itself, when I discovered it in a sort of secluded glade in Skövde, Sweden. The whole clearing beneath it felt a bit magic, as each time I visited there was something different about it; a certain light, everything covered in frost, or, as seen in the video, lots of large fluttering insects. This was something I tried to capture in the music, to bring out the majesty of the tree, and the magic feel of the place. That's also when the idea of this tree being a portal into another world arose. Musically I've also been influenced by the music of anime films, composer Joe Hisaishi in particular, as well as the video game series The Legend of Zelda.