Album: Foresight & Retrospect
Directory Suffix: oceanfables
Artists:
- Wights End
Date: September 1, 2024
Date Added: January 29, 2025
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/album/foresight-retrospect
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XcAmgH3Ko
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEzR0QEEfd-jjW2LzDezZN8NVw-YDAh9D
- https://open.spotify.com/album/4nevcf8MWEoud3DVvxEjn4
- https://music.apple.com/album/foresight-retrospect/1769245477
Cover Artists:
- Wights End
Color: '#629ac8'
Groups:
- Oceanfalls
- Beyond
Art Tags: # tag order reflects booklet commentary for Foresight
- Kotori (Oceanfalls)
- Nino (Oceanfalls)
Additional Files:
- Title: Commentary booklet
  Description: >-
    Composer commentary booklet, exported from the Google Doc linked by the Bandcamp about blurb.
  Files:
  - Track Commentary.pdf
Commentary: |-
    <i>nights:</i> ([Bandcamp about blurb](https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/album/foresight-retrospect) / [YouTube description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XcAmgH3Ko), excerpt)

    Oceanfables: Foresight & Retrospect is a solo album by [[artist:wights-end|Wights End]], featuring 11 original tracks based on the characters and story of the webcomic Oceanfalls. The gorgeous cover illustration is also made by Wights End.

    Get the musician's (Wights End) commentary on the production of this album & its tracks [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIlcokNr0F-ZWVdv10_WhO9fTwsFjjvcAi8D02H-1NU/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.8q7z3s3k6yud).

    <i>nights:</i> ([Bandcamp credits blurb](https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/album/foresight-retrospect))

    Album, music and artwork by [[artist:wights-end]]
---
Track: Foresight
Suffix Directory: true
Duration: 1:03
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/foresight
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx3f2TPap3w
- https://open.spotify.com/track/0bq4rKvSDoUANgSeZwukXf
- https://music.apple.com/album/foresight/1769245477?i=1769245479
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    When I came up with the idea for the album title (Foresight representing Kotori and Retrospect representing Nino) I figured that doing bookend tracks could be fun, especially as different explorations on the same motif, so I tried to make the song writing reflect that same sort of duality. When writing this track I really wanted to make it ambiguous as to whether the song is in major or minor.

    <i>Wights End:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko))

    *NyarVAthotep:* bringing it in with the wind.sfx

    *WightsEnd:* wind preset in Synth1
---
Track: L00M1NG
Additional Names:
- Looming (normalized)
Duration: 4:44
Referenced Tracks:
- Metal and Meat
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/l00m1ng
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqylWvdzkC0
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4ZBe2gOVTqWT0FfT5MnD7a
- https://music.apple.com/album/l00m1ng/1769245477?i=1769245480
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    This track is a dark synth remix of [[Metal and Meat]] off of Oceanfalls Volume Five. Since the original song was very light on actual melodic content, it gave me a lot of flexibility in how I built out the rest of the song; so much so that the similarities could easily be overlooked. Stylistically, I was really inspired by Carpenter Brut, and the retro, cyberpunk aesthetic that goes hand in hand with that sort of music style prompted me to reflect that in the album art as well.

    <i>Wights End, nights, keyboard cait:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=62))

    *Wights End:* carpender brut my beloved

    *nights:* When I heard this while reviewing I thought "this album will definitely become my favorite"

    *cait:* most badass ever music to be making my pancakes to rn

    *Beelzebubb:* makes me want to draw 80s art 10/10

    *Wights End:* yo<br>
    yeah, this song is what inspired the art aesthetic for the most part

    *nights:* Your artstyle really fits the way your music sounds which is something I never knew could happen before

    *Wights End:* lol<br>
    I referenced a lot of 90s anime for the art, and 80s imagery for the text

    *nights:* It gave me action comic book vibes in the best way possible
---
Track: An Unforetold Return
Duration: 2:56
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/an-unforetold-return
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KRKAsr_Hhg
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4H9dQeJJZziccle9EN1DCQ
- https://music.apple.com/album/an-unforetold-return/1769245477?i=1769245481
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    This track I wrote way back in 2019 and never got around to publishing. The song is pretty shamelessly inspired by some of [[artist:tensei|Joren "Tensei" De Bruin's]] work (but with the twist of being synth centric) which is why I've been so hesitant to release it, but at the end of the day, it wasn't doing any good burning a hole in my harddrive. I now associate this song with the Unforeseen, but coincidentally the title kind of reflects the track itself in a way.

    <i>Wights End, nights:</i> ([YouTUbe premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=347))

    *Wights End:* this one I wrote back in 2018 I think and never ended up doing anything with it

    *Wights End:* uhh, the album has been in the works proper for a little over a year? some of these tracks started well before then

    *nights:* I was thinking all along "what if this is theorizer music"<br>
    But Ive never ever seen wight make a theory ever

    *Wights End:* maybe... whos to say? (me. I am to say)
---
Track: Fealty
Suffix Directory: true
Duration: 2:44
Referenced Tracks:
- Rozepiano
- Right Hand
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/fealty
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwdG4aILgxA
- https://open.spotify.com/track/6GJeTetwXZ4KIU3x9wHF9w
- https://music.apple.com/album/fealty/1769245477?i=1769245482
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    This song was born from me smashing the motifs from [[Right Hand]] and [[Rainfalls]] together like barbie dolls and saying “now kiss.” Much to my surprise it worked way better than I expected, so I expanded it into a whole song.

    <i>Wights End, nights:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=524))

    *nights:* This jumpscared me<br>
    Because I was like why is it familiar

    *Wights End:* [[Rainfalls]] over the rhythm part to [[Right Hand]]<br>
    but swung

    *nights:* Hoooow the heck

    *monoGod:* wait os this the same leitmotif in rainfall or am i confusing that with a different song

    *NyarVAthotep:* ya this is rainfalls

    *Wights End:* yep, that's rainfalls motif

    *nights:* Wight made this to specifically do something to my mind

    *Wights End:* lol

    *NyarVAthotep:* \*me walking outside\* yeah. thats rainfalls.

    *Wights End:* \*me when rainer trips\* yeah, that's rainfalls
---
Track: Black Cat
Duration: 2:40
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/black-cat
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaYX3qQ_0js
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4A6pjoBm5CcW9jEI04GJ9s
- https://music.apple.com/album/black-cat/1769245477?i=1769245483
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    Selene already has a bunch of music, so I was thinking of ways to put a unique spin on the idea. The answer was jazz. The answer is ALWAYS jazz. Anyway, everything in the song was built off of the main bass riff that manages to hit every single note on its way down. Trying to build chords around that was a challenge, and melodies around those chords even more so. I eventually landed on something I liked, but it took a lot of trial and error.

    <i>Wights End, nights, keyboard cait:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=688))

    *Wights End:* anyways, not time for jazz<br>
    \*now

    *nights:* [[track:pushing-papers|The opposite of taxes]]

    *NyarVAthotep:* sensual sax<br>
    noted

    *Wights End:* yeah, the only good sax VST I had. it's surprisingly hard to find half decent saxophone VSTs.

    *nights:* Speaking of leitmotifs any time I suspect there is one , I usually think I'm just delusional<br>
    About oceanfalls music I mean

    *Wights End:* there's some motifs to selene songs in here, but they're pretty loose

    *nights:* Glad jazz is just loosely related to her and Lune lmao

    *NyarVAthotep:* guy whos only heard homestuck music: this is just like [[album:midnight-crew-drawing-dead|drawing dead]]

    *cait:* i come from the future. this is the famous [[track:black-cat|"black cat"]] motif

    *nights:* This is because lune is secretly a black cat

    <i>Wights End, nights:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1477) during [[Rondo of the Crimson Prince]])

    *Freddy Vera:* This album can be used in a fighting game, like skullgirls maybe

    *Wights End:* Black Cat was really inspired by Skull Girls music actually

    *nights:* That's hwy we need to maike the oceanfalls fighting game...
---
Track: Pushing Papers
Additional Names:
- Taxes (working name)
Duration: 2:11
Sampled Tracks:
- track:money-pink-floyd
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/pushing-papers
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymRoRcT4DY
- https://open.spotify.com/track/4EVNRUttzDoBOd1Sxvnl6v
- https://music.apple.com/album/pushing-papers/1769245477?i=1769245484
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    Inspired by the mental image of Solis doing his taxes, I really wanted to capture the droll vibe of his former position as a paralegal as well as the less exciting moments of his current vocation. This was one of the easiest times I’ve had writing a song in an odd time signature with the track being in 7/4 (which conveniently lent itself to the inclusion of a topical reference to [[track:money-pink-floyd|Money]] by Pink Floyd.)

    <i>Wights End, nights, keyboard cait:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=848))

    *Wights End:* now time for taxes

    *nights:* TAXES

    *NyarVAthotep:* soliscore

    *Wights End:* Taxes being the WIP title for this track

    *nights:* I love the fricking contrast between the last and this lol

    *inversintro:* This isn’t ska

    *Wights End:* nope<br>
    the last song had trumpets though<br>
    as close as we're gonna get

    *cait:* you can tell solis is a serious man by the way he presses down these piano keys

    *nights:* I want a point and click adventure about Solis' miserably life with this in the background

    *cait:* he is not playing around

    *Boyo:* Wight, been pushing too man pencils? 💪

    *Wights End:* check the time signature brother

    *NyarVAthotep:* [[track:money-pink-floyd|MONEY]]?

    *Wights End:* Pink Floyd reference on the samples lol
---
Track: Intermission
Directory: intermission-foresight-and-retrospect # custom suffix
Duration: 0:46
Referenced Tracks:
- Aeris Manus
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/intermission
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOuYXALlv7c
- https://open.spotify.com/track/45QGKcPhFNNOp0E2ok0P3G
- https://music.apple.com/album/intermission/1769245477?i=1769245485
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    Written after [[track:aeris-manus|the following track]] on the album, I thought it would be fun to adapt a part of it into a somber, solo piano piece.
---
Track: Aeris Manus
Duration: 3:22
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/aeris-manus
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQVHEOyiA-s
- https://open.spotify.com/track/1QEak8oulH9WR7mg5nZKwT
- https://music.apple.com/album/aeris-manus/1769245477?i=1769245486
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    I wrote the main bass riff of this song to play on my actual bass guitar with the intention of playing all the parts of the song on real instruments. After fighting with it for a bit, I opted to swap all the instruments to Megaman X samples which gave me a lot more flexibility with the writing process and also it felt thematically relevant for a Reed track.

    <i>Wights End, nights:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1025))

    *nights:* I'm really curious if you had specific things or scenes from the comic as inspiration for making some of these

    *Wights End:* When writing music I sometimes do, but I don't think I did with anything on this album. I mean, aside from [[track:pushing-papers|Solis doing taxes]] I guess lol.

    Like, I had ideas of how the tracks could be used I suppose, but nothing super specific

    *nights:* That checks out. You doing your own thing works very well

    *Wights End:* That said, I am often thinking about characters when I do tracks. This one is very much a reed track which inspired the bass groove and megaman samples

    *nights:* I WAS thinking Reed this whole time<br>
    He's just monpolized that sort of thing lol?
---
Track: Face the Fictitious
Duration: 4:10
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/face-the-fictitious
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ekzQpdpxH4
- https://open.spotify.com/track/6hBID7yEB1adcKHnM8MJJj
- https://music.apple.com/album/face-the-fictitious/1769245477?i=1769245487
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    I love my slow–buildup song intros, but I figured it's good to change things up once in a while so I opted to start off this track as punchy as I could manage. The synth solo in the back half was heavily inspired by the solos in songs like [Tornado of Souls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmbo4jQBKVU), [Cowboys From Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGNHwLicV2g) and [Aqualung](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghi3JERO8_A) as they all have great dynamic shifts. In terms of subject matter, this piece was designed to score a fight against spirits.

    <i>Wights End, nights, keyboard cait:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1228))

    *nights:* Also. Incoming peak

    *Wights End:* THIS track is written for a specific moment in the comic though actually

    *Rockies Canada:* When the boss's second health bar appears

    *nights:* When the boss is You

    *Wights End:* chord progression robbed from a silent hill 2 song iirc

    *NyarVAthotep:* oh. yeah. this is just [promise (reprise)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_PXTGdlGw)<br>
    but hard synth

    *cait:* silent hill 2 remains goated

    *nights:* So torn between this as my favorite of the album or one other track

    *Rockies Canada:* Actually this is Crypt of the Necrodancer music

    *Wights End:* lmao

    *Wights End:* The synth solo here was heavily inspired by the solos in songs like Tornado of Souls, Cowboys From Hell and Aqualung as they all have great dynamic shifts.

    which are so stylistically far removed from what this actually is lol
---
Track: Rondo of the Crimson Prince
Additional Names:
- In the Court of the Crimson Prince (original name)
Duration: 7:06
Referenced Tracks:
- Sovereign Domain
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/rondo-of-the-crimson-prince
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTJI_AAMzA
- https://open.spotify.com/track/3pyNGz4Ntev8MpFUy2Qcso
- https://music.apple.com/album/rondo-of-the-crimson-prince/1769245477?i=1769245699
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    Why does most symphonic metal sound so happy? I want my orchestra to sound evil! This track was originally titled “In the Court of the Crimson Prince” as a reference to King Crimson, but after building the song around a rondo structure, I felt like missing out on such a Castlevania-esque name would be a missed opportunity. I didn’t mean for the song to get so long, It just sort of happened.

    <i>Wights End, nights, keyboard cait:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1477))

    *Wights End:* alright gamers<br>
    buckle up since this one is long

    *nights:* ACTUAL boss fight music. Maybe.

    *cait:* im sure its a really nice song since the crimson prince is a really nice guy

    *nights:* I love suvillan music so much

    *Wights End:* original the title was In The Court of the Crimson Prince since I wanted to reference King Crimson, but since the track IS infact a rondo, I decided to use the castlevania ass title

    *Wights End:* I really love big, grandiose orchestral stuff that's really dark.

    *Nevermind3476:* what even is a rondo anyay

    *Wights End:* a musical form that is ABCBDB<br>
    basically, you keep returning to a common theme or section with new sections in between

    *nights:* ([3:06](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1663)) Wait what am I hearing<br>
    Was there a leitmotif of something in there<br>
    My brain is just like "I recognize this" but I don't know what or why?

    *Wights End:* This is [[Sovereign Domain]]<br>
    the motif I mean

    *nights:* Ohh<br>
    I vow to use as many songs in the comic as I can

    *Wights End:* 🙏

    *Wights End:* ([6:13](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1844)) this part has a very similar chord progression to [[track:rainfalls|rainfalls]] actually, though it's a lot less obvious in that song

    *nights:* Cool music to lose to
---
Track: Retrospect
Suffix Directory: true
Duration: 1:36
Referenced Tracks:
- Foresight
URLs:
- https://nightslights.bandcamp.com/track/retrospect
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzQg-snV-Ms
- https://open.spotify.com/track/36zUO0OEAuwnkcNvxQvKOb
- https://music.apple.com/album/retrospect/1769245477?i=1769245700
Commentary: |-
    <i>Wights End:</i> (booklet commentary)

    The bookend was originally meant to be an expansion on [[track:foresight-oceanfables|the original piano piece]] with a bunch of additional acoustic instruments, but due to the major/minor ambiguity I was going for, I found it really difficult to effectively build on the track. Instead I opted for a simpler approach that reflects the visual presentation of the album and brings us back to where we started.

    <i>Wights End, nights:</i> ([YouTube premiere live chat](https://youtu.be/A2XcAmgH3Ko?t=1904))

    *Wights End:* and now back to the motif from the start of the album<br>
    outro track

    *NyarVAthotep:* nice results screen theme

    *Wights End:* yeah lol

    *nights:* Awesome<br>
    Thank you for the cool jams wight

    *Wights End:* Glad you enjoyed them!

    *NyarVAthotep:* this might be my fav ocf album so far

    *Wights End:* :suviBlush:
