Thea by Nordsun

My memory of how Thea sounds was brighter and more positive. The first thing I did for this reissue was a new tracklist. The musical style is so inconsistent and different from song to song that it needs a very specific order to work. In doing so, I realized that all tracks, no matter how different they may be, have one thing in common. They all take place at a time when I was in the worst mental state of my life.

There’s a way how depressive feelings can be inspiring as long it’s some romantic melancholia but when those feelings become a psychological disease it’s only a hindrance. Thea came out of a depression, the feeling of being isolated from the world, not getting through and the attempt to escape from it all.

Change The Situation begins in the worst depressive episode. Where everything is just a dull noise and there is simply no more inspiration for melody or rhythm. With the full awareness that you just have to change the situation. Get up, go outside, look for some new input, do something, change the situation. But I could not.
In the first release from 2012, Change The Situation was followed by Trabantenstadt. A song about maximum numbness and the madness resulting from trying desperately to find a way to feel anything at all. The decision to follow Change The Situation with this song was nothing but hopelessness.

And that brings us to the need for this reissue. Thea sounded like it was drowning in a sea of mud, just as disconnected from the world around it as I felt then. But I don't think this poor sound quality was the worst thing. The worst thing for me was this hopelessness. This reissue isn’t just about achieving the best possible sound quality while staying close to the original. No, I wanted to get away from the original. For this I felt free not only to rework the mixing, but also to go all the way back to songwriting and production.

I remembered Thea brighter because there are so many hopeful moments. Like The Belt Of Venus, a song that only tells of the beauty of the evening twilight. Or Earth Satellite, a song about how strange and frightening a dark night feels at first, but how uniquely beautiful the view of the starry sky reveals itself once you get used to the darkness. Some of the best memories come from the darkest phase of my life, because sometimes these escape attempts were successful.

So, this reissue is much more than just a sound upgrade. It's like I took my 10-year younger self by the hand and helped him to make the album he needed at the time but the chains of his depression didn’t let him. When you are in such a bad condition that you are no longer able to change your situation yourself, even though a walk outside would be enough sometimes, then at least the music you hear should give you some hope and tell you that you still can.

Since the reissue deviates so much from the original, I also decided to work out a new cover art. I took this photo at one of these successful escape attempts. The inspiration for Ísland came from that day and place, which somehow for me was always the central song of Thea. The place is just as unspectacular as this photo of the evening sky, but I always felt good there. Probably because those clouds, however heavy and dark they may be, pass by and soon you get a clear view of the starry sky. And this feeling of your own insignificance in this endless universe, I actually find that very calming.

Nordsun crafts entire landscapes with sound. Instruments grow into matter, effects become space and time in the paintings of his soundscapes. By wielding genres as tools, Nordsun’s music embodies an extraordinary variety. Yet, a core aspect unites his songs. They are all home in a dream world where the sun eternally shines in the north.

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