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“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
I’m Supersigil, the digital shadow of a composer/producer/guitarist who will reveal their identity on Friday.
Today I’m psyched to announce Spectres, my debut album and the first virtual world in the Supersigil galaxy: a series of interconnected album-worlds I’ll be building for the rest of my life.
Comprising 13 pieces of experimental electronic music I’ve been working on over the last five years, the album release is the beating heart of this project, but there’s (a lot) more to it…
Drawing on my background as an interdisciplinary collaborator, I have put together an incredible team of meta-architects, character designers, visual artists, choreographers and 3D animators. Together, we will place the 13 tracks at the heart of a truly multidimensional experience.
The design of the virtual world, and the digital beings you will encounter there, are deeply influenced by my exploration of Jungian psychology and Joseph Campbell’s writings on mythological narratives. To step into this world is to delve into one’s own psyche, encountering archetypal forces that exist within our collective unconscious.
Spectres is not a concept album—it’s a new album concept: a first-of-its-kind world-building adventure reimagining the music release in a web3 environment. In essence, it’s immersive music theatre for the metaverse era.
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."
Orbiting the album-world is a suite of five NFT collections, each contributing uniquely to the Spectres experience. The first collection, Spectrograms, begins minting on Friday 15 July at 19:00 UTC. Read to the end for details of how to claim a free mint.
Once all 169 Spectrograms are collected, the project unfolds in three stages, each of which culminates in a new drop and funds the next phase of activity.
Album mastering
Cover artwork
Music distribution (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp etc)
Promo video
Smart contract development for subsequent drops
PR & marketing
DROP: Music NFTs + album released on streaming platforms
Fine art Portraits based on the in-world characters (see below)
Secret NFT collection created
DROP: Portrait NFTs
Virtual environment design and build
Choreography and movement data capture
Character animation
Music videos for each track
Website development
DROP: Music Video NFTs + virtual world manifested!
My plans extend far beyond the release of this album experience. Future Supersigil albums will manifest as new worlds, all interlinked via portals. Collectively, these worlds will form an entire galaxy eventually encompassing the totality of my life’s work.
All Spectres NFTs will give holders special benefits when album 2 drops, and so on with every successive album/world. By collecting them, you will be joining me at the outset of this life-long journey, taking the first steps with me.
“We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
I've spent much of the last decade composing for dance, theatre & film productions. I love when my music is heard as part of a multidimensional experience in which narrative, memory, visuals & movement combine to create a feeling of transcending time and space.
But that magic is difficult to conjure in a digital music release, where there's no shared space in which to gather. While I appreciate the convenience of music streaming, I envision a fuller artistic offering—and a deeper connection with listeners—than Spotify et al can facilitate.
To achieve this with my releases, I’ve realised that I need to craft the experiential context around the audio to an extent that is only now becoming possible with the emergence of web3 tools.
That’s why I’m manifesting Spectres as a fully-fledged virtual world, custom-built around the 13 pieces on the album. I regard this as an evolution of my work in multimedia theatre and film-scoring, making use of new tools to create the ideal setting for my music.
The concept for the virtual world is based on my exploration of Jungian psychology and Joseph Campbell’s writings on mythic traditions, which I’ve been deeply affected by while working on the album. Each of the 13 tracks is named after a Jungian archetype—a universal symbol that lives in our collective unconscious. These primal forms will be embodied by characters who live in the virtual world, each with their own realm.
To listen to each track, you visit the corresponding character’s realm, where their story begins to unfold around you through virtual choreography and animation. The individual narratives of all the characters interweave to create a meta-narrative for the album/experience as a whole.
Imagine a series of 3D, explorable music videos or, as I think of it, the metaverse equivalent of immersive music theatre.
"All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you."
I am humbled to be collaborating with the following artists:
Rafael Anton Irisarri (mastering engineer at Black Knoll Studio, NY). Rafa mastered my debut single “Brocken” and has worked on records by some of my favourite artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Loscil and Resina.
Josh Chaplin (multidisciplinary digital artist and meta architect) will build the virtual world. Check out his project The Core for an example of a bespoke virtual environment for digital art.
Leilani Franco (Guinness World Record holding contortionist and creative technologist) will use movement data capture technology to create choreography for each character.
Sneha Belkhale (tech artist) will map the dancer’s movement data onto the characters’ in-world avatars to convey their narratives.
“Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.”
Alongside the music and virtual world, a key component of the Spectres experience is a suite of five NFT collections with differing utilities in the project’s ecosystem. To reward those who join the Spectres community early on, the first two NFT drops (Spectrograms and Music NFTs) each grant holders discounts on the next collection in the series, as well as a host of other utilities detailed below.
13 editions of 13, price ascending with each edition from free to 0.05Ξ
13 visual artworks created using the audio of the tracks on the album. A spectrogram is a visual representation of frequency and amplitude over time. Using an open-source program developed in the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London, I created images that not only capture the way the music feels to me but also reflect my love of abstract artists like Rothko, Soulages, and Klein.
Each Spectrogram NFT is an edition of 13 and includes the following:
a discount on the next drop in the album's suite of NFT collections (the Music NFTs);
a private listening party: Spectrogram NFT holders will be the first to hear the complete album;
2 free tickets to any live or virtual Supersigil show, for life.
Bonuses:
collect 5 different Spectrograms and mint my next drop (the Music NFTs) for free;
collect an edition of all 13 Spectrograms and mint my next two drops for free (Music NFTs plus Portrait NFTs).
All 13 editions of the first Spectrogram are FREE TO MINT. Subsequent prices ascend with each Spectrogram from .01–.05Ξ. For the best chance of getting one of the free editions, sign up to my mailing list here and I will email you a secret link when minting goes live, 1 hour before tweeting the link publicly.
13 editions of 13 @ 0.08Ξ per track (or 0.05Ξ for holders of Spectrogram NFTs)
Stage One will culminate in the release of the 13 tracks as Music NFTs, one drop per week leading up to the album hitting streaming platforms.
The Music NFTs also give holders a discount on character Portraits during Stage Two of the project (see drop #3 below).
26 editions of 13 @ 0.13Ξ each (0.08Ξ for holders of Spectres Music NFTs)
The characters you will encounter in the virtual world are being designed with the use of experimental AI software that responds to text and/or image prompts. The resulting images are then refined, upscaled, and remixed in a process that, to my mind, parallels the way our collective unconscious produces and reproduces the symbols we call archetypes.
Each character will manifest in two forms to represent the dual aspects of archetypes according to Jungian psychology. In addition to being highly collectible works of art, the Portrait NFTs will double as keypasses unlocking full access to the virtual world once it’s unveiled. Certain areas of the world will be accessible to everyone, but to experience it in its entirety you must collect a Portrait NFT.
13 editions of 13 (free) 👀
13 editions of 13 @ 0.21Ξ each
Each track will have its own animated music video, created in collaboration with tech artist Sneha Belkhale and dancer Leilani Franco. Filmed inside the virtual world using motion capture technology, each video will reveal the corresponding character’s individual lore and their role/destiny in the meta-narrative. These will be dropped in editions of 13 in partnership with Glass, the leading video NFT platform.
“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you'll join me on this journey and become part of the Spectres community by minting a Spectrogram on Friday. 🙏
Don’t forget to drop your email here to be the first to receive the minting link.
And if you’re reading this after the minting began, check my Twitter for the latest updates.
“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
I’m Supersigil, the digital shadow of a composer/producer/guitarist who will reveal their identity on Friday.
Today I’m psyched to announce Spectres, my debut album and the first virtual world in the Supersigil galaxy: a series of interconnected album-worlds I’ll be building for the rest of my life.
Comprising 13 pieces of experimental electronic music I’ve been working on over the last five years, the album release is the beating heart of this project, but there’s (a lot) more to it…
Drawing on my background as an interdisciplinary collaborator, I have put together an incredible team of meta-architects, character designers, visual artists, choreographers and 3D animators. Together, we will place the 13 tracks at the heart of a truly multidimensional experience.
The design of the virtual world, and the digital beings you will encounter there, are deeply influenced by my exploration of Jungian psychology and Joseph Campbell’s writings on mythological narratives. To step into this world is to delve into one’s own psyche, encountering archetypal forces that exist within our collective unconscious.
Spectres is not a concept album—it’s a new album concept: a first-of-its-kind world-building adventure reimagining the music release in a web3 environment. In essence, it’s immersive music theatre for the metaverse era.
"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."
Orbiting the album-world is a suite of five NFT collections, each contributing uniquely to the Spectres experience. The first collection, Spectrograms, begins minting on Friday 15 July at 19:00 UTC. Read to the end for details of how to claim a free mint.
Once all 169 Spectrograms are collected, the project unfolds in three stages, each of which culminates in a new drop and funds the next phase of activity.
Album mastering
Cover artwork
Music distribution (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp etc)
Promo video
Smart contract development for subsequent drops
PR & marketing
DROP: Music NFTs + album released on streaming platforms
Fine art Portraits based on the in-world characters (see below)
Secret NFT collection created
DROP: Portrait NFTs
Virtual environment design and build
Choreography and movement data capture
Character animation
Music videos for each track
Website development
DROP: Music Video NFTs + virtual world manifested!
My plans extend far beyond the release of this album experience. Future Supersigil albums will manifest as new worlds, all interlinked via portals. Collectively, these worlds will form an entire galaxy eventually encompassing the totality of my life’s work.
All Spectres NFTs will give holders special benefits when album 2 drops, and so on with every successive album/world. By collecting them, you will be joining me at the outset of this life-long journey, taking the first steps with me.
“We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”
I've spent much of the last decade composing for dance, theatre & film productions. I love when my music is heard as part of a multidimensional experience in which narrative, memory, visuals & movement combine to create a feeling of transcending time and space.
But that magic is difficult to conjure in a digital music release, where there's no shared space in which to gather. While I appreciate the convenience of music streaming, I envision a fuller artistic offering—and a deeper connection with listeners—than Spotify et al can facilitate.
To achieve this with my releases, I’ve realised that I need to craft the experiential context around the audio to an extent that is only now becoming possible with the emergence of web3 tools.
That’s why I’m manifesting Spectres as a fully-fledged virtual world, custom-built around the 13 pieces on the album. I regard this as an evolution of my work in multimedia theatre and film-scoring, making use of new tools to create the ideal setting for my music.
The concept for the virtual world is based on my exploration of Jungian psychology and Joseph Campbell’s writings on mythic traditions, which I’ve been deeply affected by while working on the album. Each of the 13 tracks is named after a Jungian archetype—a universal symbol that lives in our collective unconscious. These primal forms will be embodied by characters who live in the virtual world, each with their own realm.
To listen to each track, you visit the corresponding character’s realm, where their story begins to unfold around you through virtual choreography and animation. The individual narratives of all the characters interweave to create a meta-narrative for the album/experience as a whole.
Imagine a series of 3D, explorable music videos or, as I think of it, the metaverse equivalent of immersive music theatre.
"All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you."
I am humbled to be collaborating with the following artists:
Rafael Anton Irisarri (mastering engineer at Black Knoll Studio, NY). Rafa mastered my debut single “Brocken” and has worked on records by some of my favourite artists including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Loscil and Resina.
Josh Chaplin (multidisciplinary digital artist and meta architect) will build the virtual world. Check out his project The Core for an example of a bespoke virtual environment for digital art.
Leilani Franco (Guinness World Record holding contortionist and creative technologist) will use movement data capture technology to create choreography for each character.
Sneha Belkhale (tech artist) will map the dancer’s movement data onto the characters’ in-world avatars to convey their narratives.
“Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.”
Alongside the music and virtual world, a key component of the Spectres experience is a suite of five NFT collections with differing utilities in the project’s ecosystem. To reward those who join the Spectres community early on, the first two NFT drops (Spectrograms and Music NFTs) each grant holders discounts on the next collection in the series, as well as a host of other utilities detailed below.
13 editions of 13, price ascending with each edition from free to 0.05Ξ
13 visual artworks created using the audio of the tracks on the album. A spectrogram is a visual representation of frequency and amplitude over time. Using an open-source program developed in the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London, I created images that not only capture the way the music feels to me but also reflect my love of abstract artists like Rothko, Soulages, and Klein.
Each Spectrogram NFT is an edition of 13 and includes the following:
a discount on the next drop in the album's suite of NFT collections (the Music NFTs);
a private listening party: Spectrogram NFT holders will be the first to hear the complete album;
2 free tickets to any live or virtual Supersigil show, for life.
Bonuses:
collect 5 different Spectrograms and mint my next drop (the Music NFTs) for free;
collect an edition of all 13 Spectrograms and mint my next two drops for free (Music NFTs plus Portrait NFTs).
All 13 editions of the first Spectrogram are FREE TO MINT. Subsequent prices ascend with each Spectrogram from .01–.05Ξ. For the best chance of getting one of the free editions, sign up to my mailing list here and I will email you a secret link when minting goes live, 1 hour before tweeting the link publicly.
13 editions of 13 @ 0.08Ξ per track (or 0.05Ξ for holders of Spectrogram NFTs)
Stage One will culminate in the release of the 13 tracks as Music NFTs, one drop per week leading up to the album hitting streaming platforms.
The Music NFTs also give holders a discount on character Portraits during Stage Two of the project (see drop #3 below).
26 editions of 13 @ 0.13Ξ each (0.08Ξ for holders of Spectres Music NFTs)
The characters you will encounter in the virtual world are being designed with the use of experimental AI software that responds to text and/or image prompts. The resulting images are then refined, upscaled, and remixed in a process that, to my mind, parallels the way our collective unconscious produces and reproduces the symbols we call archetypes.
Each character will manifest in two forms to represent the dual aspects of archetypes according to Jungian psychology. In addition to being highly collectible works of art, the Portrait NFTs will double as keypasses unlocking full access to the virtual world once it’s unveiled. Certain areas of the world will be accessible to everyone, but to experience it in its entirety you must collect a Portrait NFT.
13 editions of 13 (free) 👀
13 editions of 13 @ 0.21Ξ each
Each track will have its own animated music video, created in collaboration with tech artist Sneha Belkhale and dancer Leilani Franco. Filmed inside the virtual world using motion capture technology, each video will reveal the corresponding character’s individual lore and their role/destiny in the meta-narrative. These will be dropped in editions of 13 in partnership with Glass, the leading video NFT platform.
“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you'll join me on this journey and become part of the Spectres community by minting a Spectrogram on Friday. 🙏
Don’t forget to drop your email here to be the first to receive the minting link.
And if you’re reading this after the minting began, check my Twitter for the latest updates.
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