Ascension by The Laconic
Ascension is the fourth album by The Laconic, and a spiritual successor to Amor Fati. The first seven tracks form an extended piece loosely based on the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, while the final and titular track is a cover of the climax of Mike Oldfield's The Songs of Distant Earth.
From the soaring melodies of "The Mind Freed" through the guitar harmonies and hypnotic patterns of "The Memory of Everything", the contemplative passages of "No Greater Harmony", and the uplifting tone and polymeters of "Throw Open The Windows Of Your Soul", concluding with a respectfully poppy version of "Ascension", the album is pure Laconic, progressive but not typically so, eclectic and evocative, and always aiming to be epic AF.
Tracklist
| 1. | The Mind Freed | 8:44 |
| 2. | To Watch the Course of the Stars | 2:56 |
| 3. | The Memory of Everything | 14:08 |
| 4. | To Love Only What Happens | 3:28 |
| 5. | No Greater Harmony | 10:17 |
| 6. | To Keep an Untroubled Spirit | 4:26 |
| 7. | Throw Open the Windows of Your Soul | 6:52 |
| 8. | Ascension | 5:47 |
Videos
Credits
Ascension draws from a deep pool of knowledge, skill and experience, and I am deeply grateful to these musicians for bringing my compositions to life. Thanks to Juan Dahmen, Aralee Dorough, Erik Emil Eskildsen, Tim Gardner, Colin Gatwood, Gary Husband, Scott Pelath, and Christina Ruf for joining me in another endeavor; and to Alex Babikov, Luca Calabrese, August Hoerr, Simon Phillips, and Markus Schneider for coming on board. More thanks to August Hoerr, Andrea Carracedo, and Bernhard Wöstheinrich for art and design contributions. Special thanks to Fabio Trentini for his essential contributions and engineering; to Erik Emil Eskildsen for mastering, cheerleading, and sonic consulting; to my friend, mentor, and producer Markus Reuter for putting so much of himself into this project; and to Diana and Nell for their support in my musical endeavors.
Produced by Markus Reuter
Mixed by Fabio Trentini
Mastered by Erik Emil Eskildsen
Cover art by August Hoerr
Interior art by artificial intelligences
Layout and design by Bernhard Wöstheinrich
Quotations by Marcus Aurelius
“Ascension” by Michael Gordon Oldfield, copyright EMI Blackwood Music Inc. o/b/o EMI Music Pub Ltd
License
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The Laconic crafts immersive, genre-blurring compositions that fuse acoustic instruments with electronic textures. Drawing from philosophy, memory, and imagined futures, each piece invites deep listening and reflection.