Wild Light Decade #05: End of the World Sun (not that one) (Patreon)

In light of last week’s track being a rough and ready demo, here’s something a little more put together to round off this first month of the Wild Light Decade project.

Long before we wrote a song for No Man’s Sky that immediately seemed like the obvious choice for this particular title, a completely different track from the Wild Light sessions went by the same name. (And to confuse matters further, it is possible that some components of this earlier song did ultimately end up in the aforementioned No Man’s Sky pathfinder soundscapes. But maybe not. Hard to tell. Please let us know in the comments if you recognise it.)

Much like Aporias, there are plenty of signposts here in terms of the electronic programming, leading away from the more angular and relatively brittle production of We Were Exploding Anyway, towards a skitterish, still pumping, but warmer Wild Light production best exemplified by Sleepwalk City.

On the other hand, the breakdown at 3:50 harks back to Install a Beak in the Heart That Clucks Time in Arabic so it's not entirely a move into uncharted territory. And now Install a Beak... comes to mind, there’s a distinct similarity when it comes to the chord progression too. Maybe 10-years-ago us also noticed this resemblance and that is why we jettisoned it? Hard to say, and strange that we don’t remember why we dropped this, because it remains a pretty strong song. (The bit where Rob’s live drums straighten out at at 3:10 after holding the snare first rhythm is a little bit magic.)

Taken with Square Sky (and Aporias), it feels like there was an alternative, more electronica-ish version of Wild Light that never came to pass. Sleeker, somehow more aerodynamic. Less Fortress-of-Sonics tracks like Heat Death Infinity Splitter and Safe Passage, more lithe, chancy sawtooth dances and tumbling kick drums. If the Wild Light that actually exists is like a blue whale, this Shadow Light would have been some kind of cyberpunk dolphin… There's hints of it in this demo.

With fresh ears and ten years of hindsight, it is a shame that this track didn’t make it all the way to Chapel Recording Studios, and then up to Castle of Doom in Glasgow for the Tony Doogan mix along with the rest of the final album tracks. Because even as it stands, with no further writing, this could have been great. Bet it would have been fun to play live too… Oh well! Still time to enjoy it now, before the end of the world (sun).

END OF MONTH BONUS TRACK: Also included at the bottom of this post is an alternative version of EOTWS, a rough demo of us experimenting with a live band version of the track. No programming or drums, just our raw, undiluted, astounding instrumental talent. It’s not as compelling a listen as the main version, but a good example of our insistence to push each core of a song idea in as many different directions as seemed feasible to make sure that whatever final direction we chose was the most appropriate.

Here’s a photo of our trusty whiteboard during the ‘recording Blackspots’ day at Chapel Studios back in 2013. (Yes, the studio had a leslie organ. Yes, we did try recording Blackspots on it. Yes, it was a bad idea.)

That’s it for now. Here is the Wild Light 10th Anniversary vinyl re-press preorder, in case you missed it earlier. It's out 1st September and we’ll be holding back some copies for our live shows too.

See you next week, friends!