Ladies and gentlemen, here it is.

As some of you may have seen, I did the National Solo Album Month challenge, which formed the core of this release. The version you see doesn't technically qualify as a NaSoAlMo entry though, since I've added more material and have done some pruning/polishing to it.

It has been a very important exercise for me though. Until now I've never really attempted to disseminate my personal music beyond posting a link once and a while. I've also never written so much and in so little time.

Some takeaways I learned from the process:

1. Spending days writing a track doesn't have an appreciable advantage over tracks that I knock out in an afternoon in a fit of inspiration. Actually, the longer I have to spend on it, the more likely I'll end up with crap. This really shines a new light on the importance of workflow.

2. I work better creatively with deadlines. Like, loads better.

Dull Technical Behind-the-Scenes Info

All the titles are references to (maybe) famous sci-fi stories, particularly ones from a certain club some of you may know.

The art I hobbled together from a concept I attempted to execute, but the result wasn't especially good. Subjecting that result to various filters in paint.net gave me the basis of what I have now.

Here's a breakdown of the album in musical and technical specifications, with a grid of which instruments and notable plugins were used where. Older tracks that got inserted are highlighted in blue.

Lessons: I have a strong preference for F minor when writing on keys, which I knew about. Also, maybe I should throw away my guitar. Volcas are the MVPs here.

My project folder for NaSoAlMo had projects 1-21. 12 of those made it to the final album. Some (like Mercer) got recorded in one pass improvisationally while others (like O, Salem) I spent weeks trying to finish, then ended up cutting half of the material.

It's a relief to be wrapping this up now. I'm tired of listening to it over and over for mixing and mastering purposes right now.