Spacewalk

Context

Spacewalk was finished in February 2025 and released later that summer. I had just moved to a new city to start studying and was living in a shared flat with thin walls and new routines. It felt like a reset in a lot of ways. New environment, new people, different pace.

One practical detail shaped the entire project: I didn’t feel comfortable recording vocals in that space. I didn’t want to be the guy singing through the walls at midnight. So instead of forcing it, I leaned into instrumentals.

At first, that wasn’t a grand artistic decision. It was just the easiest option. But the more I worked on those tracks, the more it became its own world. I had always wanted to explore more electronic territory — house, techno, atmospheric textures — but I hadn’t fully committed to it before. During this period, something clicked. The songs started to feel more complete, more confident. That’s when Spacewalk became the main focus rather than just a side experiment.

The Concept

The narrative wasn’t planned from the beginning. The tracks started as individual pieces. The story emerged later, almost accidentally, when I began naming them.

Once the titles were in place, a sequence formed naturally. Each track seemed to take on a role in a larger arc. Loosely inspired by the feeling of films like Interstellar, the album began to resemble a space mission. It starts with curiosity and beauty. There’s a sense of vastness and wonder. Then subtle instability creeps in. Something breaks. Communication fails. In the end, there’s detachment.

It isn't meant to be literal science fiction. The space theme works more as a metaphor for distance. Drifting away from people, from certainty, from familiar ground. That feeling of being suspended between where you were and where you're going.

Even though the tracks can stand alone, they make the most sense when listened to in order. Together, they tell that story.

Sound & Process

Without lyrics, everything had to be carried by texture and progression. I spent more time shaping synths, layering pads, and giving each track a distinct sonic identity. Compared to my vocal albums, the process felt quieter but also more focused. There was no need to explain anything with words. The emotion had to come entirely from movement and atmosphere.

Technically, I was still using familiar tools, but I pushed myself to be more creative with them. Each track has at least one element that defines it — whether it’s a specific synth tone, a rhythmic pattern, or a shift in intensity.

The album was essentially finished early in the year. One track went through a significant rework late in the process, which pushed the release back. Rather than rush it, I took the extra time to reshape it so it felt right within the arc of the project. In hindsight, that patience made the album stronger.

Looking Back

Spacewalk represents independence in my catalog. It’s the first project where I stepped away from vocals entirely and trusted sound alone to carry meaning. It forced me to rely on atmosphere instead of lyrics and showed me that I don’t always need a narrative spelled out to make something cohesive.

I don’t see it as a one-off experiment. It feels like a parallel thread — a reminder that stepping back can be just as expressive as speaking directly.

If my earlier albums were about immediate emotional expression, Spacewalk is about distance and perspective. It’s quieter, but it still says what it needs to say.