Electronic Symphony No.1, f minor
Existential Dread
Facts
Album:
„Electronic Symphony No.1: Existential Dread“
Genre:
Electronic/Post-Genre
Playtime:
~ 33 minutes, four movements/tracks
Singles:
Threat, Dread – link to music upon request
Desired release date:
15.05.23 or later
Release formats:
digital, eventually limited vinyl edition
Region:
Vinyl: DACH
Digital: worldwide
Cast:
Juc (vox, electronica)
Album concept
I release an electronic symphony thematically dealing with existential dread. It’s in F minor and a concept album in four movements that puts electronic music into the framework of a classical symphony.
I don’t keep my music short to fit the radio – luckily there’s room for long formats in techno clubs and concert halls. A techno track (or the movement of a symphony) rarely lasts less than five minutes. I compose from the aspect of tension arcs, which I build up slowly, only to resolve them in a catharsis and allow my listeners to experience emotional release in the form of euphoria, sadness or rage.
Musical concept: symphony
Symphonies are the concept albums of classical music. Especially in the classical era (18th century), symphonic works were characterized by a clear framework. Each movement had its own specifications to which the composer had to adhere. I took this framework as a model for the composition of the Electronic Symphony.
Disarray is a monumentally epic, nearly eleven-minute piece in F minor that evolves from slow (70 BPM), polyrhythmic fragility to sweeping, lively flow (160 BPM). The symphony’s first movement is in sonata-form. It introduces the main and secondary themes in F minor and develops on them over the course of the piece.
In addition to the multi-layered soundscapes, I use my voice as a looped element, singing with both classical and modern techniques. The intro and outro make harmonic use of Metal: the tonic (F minor) alternates with the G flat major, which is only a semitone higher, a popular stylistic element that is perceived as ominous by the European ear. Many sound and stylistic elements of this piece can be rediscovered in the following movements.
Threat first adheres to the classical rules of composition for a second movement: slow song in parallel key or close relative. It keys in A-flat minor at a moderately slow tempo (90 BPM). The song structure, consisting of verse, bridge and chorus, is well known to us from modern pop music.
In the first part, my voice is heard directly and clearly in front of a minimalist instrumentation. The lyrics are in the foreground while the track thickens towards the first drop with more and more vocal and sound layers.
The second part is, apart from looped vocal elements, purely instrumental and now corresponds to electronic track structures. Again, melodic-meditative sound layers create an intense build-up that gently discharges towards the end of the track.
Dread goes into the active: analogous to symphonic composition, it is a scherzo, that is, a fast piece with an energetic 125 BPM in the main key of F minor. As a purely instrumental piece, it is the most electronic of the four movements and at the same time breaks least with the compositional precepts of symphonies. Throughout the track, elements and themes are picked up from the first two movements, especially the first.
Dawn once again reworks the major musical elements of the first movement in the main key and forms the symphony’s conclusion. The fourth movement builds from quiet, recumbent chords to a final, vocal catharsis with multiple background choruses and a densely woven tapestry of sound accompanying my pleading lead vocals.
Theme: Existential dread
In each of the symphonies, I devote myself to a particular emotional state or philosophical concept. This is much less intellectual than the previous sentence might suggest: The resulting music provides my listeners with access to the emotions associated with it, which they can thus experience, explore and process in a protected, time-limited space.
The first symphony is about Existential Dread. This can be triggered by concrete events such as war, physical and emotional violence, but also by passive influences that creep in and go unnoticed by us until it is too late. Those who experience existential fear are exposed to extremely strong emotions, but at the same time they show how attached the person is to life and fears its end.
Coming to terms with the darker aspects of life, especially when one has experienced trauma, is a great challenge – one that can be expressed and made more bearable through music. Isolation, for example. The mental health impact of the pandemic will likely never be fully captured in numbers or words. The number of adults in treatment for depression has increased sharply since 2020, as well as for anxiety disorders.
Song by Song: The Course of Existential Dread
This album is about a downward spiral that can grip people in a variety of situations and ultimately leads to our deepest fears – and the certainty that we can never completely escape them. Over the course of the tracks, listeners experience the progression of an anxiety attack, or how their home slips from supposed stability into chaos and destruction.
At the beginning, it is often a creeping feeling of disorientation, perhaps also a loss of control due to the sheer chaos that is the basis of all life despite the illusion of structure, order, laws and rules. This feeling can become a background noise that accompanies our everyday life. Therefore, the line “everywhere I look, I see disarray” is the core statement of the first movement. Over time, this statement disappears into the background as a looped element – the diffuse malaise becomes part of our everyday sensation without us noticing it.
This feeling is joined by concrete external threats from which it is necessary to hide and flee. Here, too, both concrete and passive events are meant, for example, the fear of illness, social instability, ostracism, or even the threatening raising of the hand of a close caregiver.
In Threat, these manifest as a fearsome warrior who knows we are cowering in the shadows trying to escape her. In the end, the instinct to flee kicks in and we run, figuratively or really, for our lives. However, I also invite you to interpret this song as an anti-war anthem, dedicating it to the world’s displaced people who have had to leave their entire lives behind due to the greed and power games of wealthy nations.
Now that we are already on the run (whether merely inwardly running away from our demons or quite literally), naked panic engulfs us. With the third movement of the electronic symphony we go where words are obsolete and the body takes over. Dread is fast, instrumental and punchy, the energetic climax of the symphony. Our fear is now almost unbearable and discharges through fighting, screaming and adrenaline.
At the end of every anxiety attack, there is often only one thing left: total exhaustion. It is usually paired with the bitter realization that it can start again at any time and that the only way back into the light is to keep going. The despair of not being able to escape your own mind or the situation and still having to keep going is the theme of the final movement, Dawn. The song line “I am scared the rising sun will pass me by” ends the symphony and sums up the duality of existential fear and irrepressible will to live.
Products around the album
Merchandise
misfit fanny packs (already exist)
T-Shirts: „Disarray“, “Threat”, “Dread”, “Dawn”
Concerts/tour
Pre-Listening-Party in Munich
Release-Tour in DACH
Festival- and Showcase-Sets
Miscellaneous
Live recording with visuals
Booklet with short stories/lyrics by me and other authors
Score
Marketing potential
The symphony format is virtually infinitely repeatable without becoming monotonous. The low song count (four movements) in relatively high frequency (yearly releases) means I can meet the demand of the algorithm: Regular releases mean I’m relevant and active.
I thematically tie myself to concrete, but still versatile topics. The movements are always structured in the same way, giving me a flexible framework. The result is always four pieces that both reflect my versatility as a composer and singer and open up a wide range of music for my listeners.
With the first movements (sonata form), I demonstrate my compositional talent and training, gaining credibility and respect from the musician and music nerd community, who are often trendsetters and also gatekeepers.
With the second movements (song form), I create a series of melancholic pop songs that are always suitable as singles due to the classical song structure and are also versatile outside of the symphony context.
The third movements (“Scherzo”, fast, lively) will develop into Juc’s own club compilation over time, as these pieces are all fast and electronic, i.e. between 120 and 140 BPM. With this I cover the club area (and the clubgoer/DJ target group) and also offer high remix potential for other producers.
With the fourth movements (processing of the first movement) I take once again artistic freedom and can decide each time anew, in which direction I go to the conclusion once again.
My symphonies can therefore be marketed in the most diverse directions and build up a correspondingly broad fan base.
- You can click us!
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Target groups
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Personas
- People between 20 and 45
- Low to medium purchasing power
- Well educated, not necessarily university graduates
- Subculturally influenced
- Listen to electronic music, but also to melancholic, dark genres such as Metal, Gothic, Wave, Indie
- Searching for meaning, philosophical
- Concert- and club goers
- Listen to Spotify playlists like Brain Food, Deep Dark Indie, Off Pop, Dark&Stormy, Selectronica, Kopfkino, Lowkey Tech, Got Djent?, Negative Space
Music nerds
People who not only consume music, but also deal with its creation, structure and meaning and/or make it themselves. They are interested in more than just what they hear, watch YouTube channels of music analysts and have a high interest in music theory. They are open-minded, eager to experiment and like music that cannot be categorized into any classical genre. Everything that is post-genre appeals to them.
Melancholic philosophers
People who draw strength from melancholic and somber music instead of becoming sad. They process their own feelings by listening to music and feel addressed, seen and understood by serious lyrics. This can be, for example, people with lovesickness and other crises of meaning, or those who like to study the human mind and explore inner depths at kitchen tables over red wine. Melancholic philosophers often have the need for self-reflection and interest in psychological topics and will find it in my music.
Goths
Due to the monumental force of my music, my visual appearance (black, crown) and the gloomy lyrics, I appeal to the Gothic subculture. These are people with a penchant for the gloomy, for complex and difficult themes of the human psyche, who appreciate extravagant appearance and individualism and express themselves accordingly. Dark hedonism describes their approach to art and culture of all forms: Yes, it can and should be celebrated, but instead of confetti and “good vibes only,” it’s the epic, the gritty, and the raw that brings them to ecstasy.
About Juc
Hello, my name is Juc [pronounced Jut͡s]. With my music for misfits I create a dark-melancholic free space, where nobody has to compromise to belong. In our performance-oriented system, we often have little strength left to pursue our actual nature.
I love and appreciate electronic music because of its structure and the possibility to break with it. For me, true freedom is only possible when there is a defined framework for action. Without it, there is no (moral) orientation – and nothing to position oneself against. The absence of rules means the absence of freedom of choice – but who are we if we cannot choose our own destiny?
Through my classical training in piano and voice, I bring a great love for classical music in addition to my passion for dark electronic music. What the grand masters have already perfected inspires me in an electronic context. For me, the appeal of electronic music is, among other things, the play and break with the structure of repetitive elements and layer-based construction. The same applies to classical music: here the framework of action is clearly defined and thus allows me artistic creative space in a new context.
A different kind of regional cultural support
I am the initiator of a showcase event series in Munich called we are subjects. It introduces electronic FLINTA+ solo artist:s in southern Germany and has taken place twice so far. In Munich (and from what I’ve heard from others, also in the rest of Germany, including Berlin) there are almost no structures for emerging electronic artist:ins who don’t DJ. That’s a gap I’m trying to fill, at least for the FLINTA+ in the scene.
As a result of my showcase, I was able to initiate a collaboration with Sonoton, a production music publisher. Three of my fellow FLINTA:ers and I are currently producing the first pure FLINTA production music album for their database. I strongly believe in networking and mutual support. That’s why I’ve decided to bring in three other FLINTA+ producer:s to help us all make a sustainable income from music without having to rely on concerts and CD sales in these difficult times.
I also hold Ableton Live workshops for FLINTA+ (e.g. About Pop 2021, Stuttgart) and DIY website bootcamps for FLINTA+ musicians (e.g. online at RAKETEREI).
