Τέττᾰρες πλευραί, ὕμνοι, καιροί, καί ἄνεμοι

Téttăres pleuraí, hŭ́mnoi, kairoí, kaí ắnemoi

(Four Sides, Songs, Seasons, & Winds)

an anthology by Aaron Freed ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/discography.html⟩

download/stream this album

Téttăres pleuraí, hŭ́mnoi, kairoí, kaí ắnemoi

(Four Sides, Songs, Seasons, & Winds)

an anthology by Aaron Freed

(download/stream this album)

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Tracks
   1. «Καταιβᾰτή ἕλῐξ» (19:37) [DR15]
   2. «Οἶκος κεκλεισμένων θῠρῐ́δων, ᾰ̓κρόπολῐς σῑγῆς» (19:30) [DR13]
   3. “Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt” (20:15) [DR14]
   4. “Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥” (20:36) [DR13]

   Current total: 1:19:58 [DR14]

Introduction

I write a lot of music: from June 2024 to April 2025 alone, I wrote or cowrote over five hours of original music. This collection contains four of my favorite tracks from 2024 to 2026. I’ve always loved old double LPs with one track to a side, so once I had that many side-length compositions, I felt obligated to collect them.

These tracks are, of course, atypical of my work in a few ways:

• They’re about twelve minutes above my average track length. (It’s no coincidence that I think they’re all worth anthologizing: I only write songs that long if I think their quality justifies the length.)
• «Κα­ται­βᾰ­τή ἕ­λῐξ» and “Om­nēs vi­ae Sō­lem dū­cunt” have vocal parts, which I sel­dom write.
• While I’m known to insert brief quotes of other composers’ work as easter eggs, I rarely rewrite existing songs outright. But two of these tracks are heavily based on other composers’ work:
  • «Καταιβᾰτή ἕλῐξ» interpolates four Chris Christodoulou ⟨chrischristodoulou.bandcamp.com⟩ tracks (Risk of Rain series, Deadbolt) with permission (for which I’m immensely grateful).
  • “Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥” is partly based on Alex Se­ro­pi­an’s “Leela” (Ma­ra­thon, 1994-12-21) and Martin O’Don­nell & Michael Salvatori’s “Covenant Dance” (Halo: Combat Evolved, 2001-11-15). I began writing it for Eternal ⟨eternal.bungie.org⟩ and forgot to stop; in fact, I’m still not done.

But they also showcase many hallmarks of my style for most/all of their runtime:

• Eschewal of verse/chorus structure
• Unorthodox chord progressions
• Complex, fill-laden drum parts
• Compound time signatures
• Complex arrangements employing dense arpeggiation
• Long, gradual, dramatic dynamic shifts
• Mostly instrumental, with lyrics only in foreign languages
• Album/song/movement titles in dead languages or dialects (Latin, Attic Greek, Middle Egyptian)

My music as a whole is too stylistically diverse to fit cleanly into one genre, but this anthology can reasonably be described as progressive rock/metal and/or post-rock. My biggest conscious influences are:

1. Johann Sebastian Bach
2. Brian Eno
3. The Beatles
4. Pink Floyd
5. Nobuo Uematsu
6. Vangelis
7. King Crimson
8. Genesis (and related solo acts, e.g. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel)

My other in­flu­en­ces include Steve Al­bi­ni, Beas­tie Boys, Black Sa­bbath, Chris Chris­to­dou­lou, John Col­trane, Mi­les Da­vis, Death­spell Ome­ga, Bob Dylan, Tim & Geoff Fol­lin, Mar­vin Gaye, Ge­ne­sis, Phi­lip Glass, God­speed You! Black Em­pe­ror, Joy Di­vi­sion, Kō­en­ji Hy­ak­kei, Ma­gma, Me­tal­li­ca, Ya­su­no­ri Mit­su­da, Jan­elle Mo­náe, Jo­an­na New­som, Night­wish, Nine Inch Nails, Steve Reich, Ren, Rush, Rin­go Shī­na, Slint, Talk Talk, Talk­ing Heads, Tears for Fears, Tool, the Vel­vet Un­der­ground, Win­dir, Yes, Neil Young, & Frank Zap­pa. Some of these are un­doub­ted­ly more ob­vi­ous in­flu­en­ces than oth­ers: e.g., the Beas­tie Boys’ in­flu­ence on my mu­sic is like­ly quite ob­lique, but Paul’s Bou­tique has lived rent-free in my head for some­thing like twen­ty years, and while I’ll ne­ver in a mil­lion years im­it­ate Death­spell Ome­ga’s com­po­si­tion­al sty­le, they’re pro­bab­ly most re­spon­si­ble for my at­tempts to com­bine cho­ral mu­sic and me­tal.

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1. «Καταιβᾰτή ἕλῐξ» (19:37) [DR15]

   Attic Greek: “Downward Spiral”
   Romanized: «Kataibătḗ hélĭx»

   Ᾰ̓ρχή Ărkhḗ Start	Τέλος Télos End		Ἀττικός Ἑλληνική Attĭkós Hellēnĭkḗ Attic Greek	Ῥωμᾰῐ̈σμένη Rhōmăĭ̈sméni Romanized	Μετάφρασις Metáphrasis Translation
   0:00	5:41	α.	Ὁ ζῐ́γγος αὔξεται μέγᾰς	Ho zĭ́ngos aúxetai mégăs	The whirring grows loud
   5:41	10:36	β.	Ὀνειροπολεῖς βῐαίᾱν αὔξησῐν	Oneiropoleîs bĭaíān aúxēsĭn	You dream of violent growth
   10:36	15:31	γ.	Μίᾰ ᾰ̓γᾰ́πη ἀνώτατη	Míă ăgắpē anṓtatē	A love supreme
   15:31	19:37	δ.	Ἡμέρᾱ ὀργῆς	Hēmérā orgês	Diēs īrae

   Original album: Compositions 2023-2024 ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/compositions2023-2024notes.html⟩

   Music: Chris Christodoulou ⟨chrischristodoulou.bandcamp.com⟩ (2013 to 2022) & Aaron Freed (2024-08-08 to 2024-10-07)

   Interpolates:

   • α & β: Chris Christodoulou, “The Raindrop That Fell to the Sky” (Risk of Rain 2, 2019-03-28)
   • β: Chris Christodoulou, “They Might as Well Be Dead” (Survivors of the Void, 2022-03-01)
   • β: Chris Christodoulou, “Moisture Deficit” (Risk of Rain, 2013-11-08)
   • β: Chris Christodoulou, “Once in a Lullaby” (Survivors of the Void, 2022-03-01)

   Briefly interpolates:

   • γ: Nine Inch Nails’ “The Downward Spiral”, composed by Trent Reznor
   • δ: unknown author, “Diēs Īrae” (Latin: “Day of Wrath”), often attributed to Thomas of Celano

   Lyrics: ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/compositions2023-2024notes.html#11lyrics⟩ unknown medieval authors

   γ: Trisagion (Τρισάγιον, literally “Thrice Holy”)

   δ: “Diēs Īrae”

   Originally written for: Tempus Irae Redux, “Downward Spiral”

   γ & δ actually used on: Tempus Irae Redux, “Il grande silenzio”, as «Ἡ μεγᾰ́λη σιγή» (with “Cauda toxica”)

   Ancient Greek: “Il grande silenzio”
   (Italian: “The Great Silence”)
   Romanized: “Hē megắlē sigḗ”

   Commentary: original album ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/compositions2023-2024notes.html#11⟩

   Key signatures: E♭ major (α), C minor (β & δ), a mix of C minor & C major (γ)

   Time signatures: Mostly 𝟓
   𝟖, with 5:7 & 5:4 polyrhythms throughout β and brief modulations to 𝟒
   𝟒 bookending it

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2. «Οἶκος κεκλεισμένων θῠρῐ́δων, ᾰ̓κρόπολῐς σῑγῆς» (19:30) [DR13]

   Attic Greek: “House of Closed Windows, Castle of Silence”

   Romanized: «Oîkos kekleisménōn thŭrĭ́dōn, ăkrópolĭs sīgês»

   Original album: Mūsica ex tempore malōrum ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/musicaextemporemalorum.html⟩

   Music: Aaron Freed
   (2025-01-10 to 2025-01-30)

   Vaguely inspired by:

   • 弘田 佳孝, 「閉じられた窓の館」 (Shadow Hearts, 2001-06-28)

     Japanese: Yoshitaka Hirota, “House of Closed Windows”
     

     Official English title: “Castle of a Silence”

     Rōmaji: Hirota Yoshitaka, “Toji rareta mado no yakata”
     

   • 光田 康典, 「運命に囚われし者たち」 (クロノ・クロス, 1999-11-18; OST, 1999-12-18)

     Japanese: Yasunori Mitsuda, “Prisoners of Fate” (Chrono Cross)
     Rōmaji: Mitsuda Yasunori, “Unmei ni torawareshi monotachi” (Kurono Kurosu)

   • 植松 伸夫, 「不安な心」 (ファイナルファンタジーＶＩＩ, 1997-01-31; OST, 1997-02-10)

     Japanese: Nobuo Uematsu, “Anxious Heart” (Final Fantasy VII)
     Rōmaji: Uematsu Nobuo, “Fuan na kokoro” (Fainaru Fantajī Sebun)

   • The Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby” (Revolver, 1966-08-05)

     (John Lennon/Paul McCartney; string arrangement by George Martin)

   • Maurice Ravel, “Boléro” (1928-11-22)

   Commentary: original album ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/musicaextemporemalorum.html#oikos⟩, subsequent anthology ⟨aaronfreed.github.io/musicaextemporemalorum.html#oikoskekleismenonthuridon⟩

   Key signature: E Dorian, and/or all of them.

   OK, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (which travels through B major, G major, and E♭ major in rapid succession) might still take the cake, but this is still probably almost as tonally ambiguous as the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” (which infamously can be read as either A major or E major).

   We start on an E minor chord, but the first three chords alone make it ambiguous whether we’re in E natural minor or E Dorian: its second chord, C♯m7(♭5), is non-diatonic to E minor, while its third chord, Cmaj7, is non-diatonic to E Dorian. After another E minor chord, we see C♯m (non-diatonic to E minor), C major (non-diatonic to E Dorian), and A major (non-diatonic to E minor) just in the next few measures, but a A major-E minor plagal cadence does suggest we’re in E Dorian.

   Overall, later parts of the song conform to several diatonic scales, including B major, A major, and E♭ major, but it never stays true to any of them more than a handful of measures; however, at the end of the song’s 42-measure-long chord progression, a B major chord resolves to E minor and we restart our progression. This very clear V–i resolution makes it obvious that our tonal center contains the E minor chord, which is why I ultimately classify the song’s key signature as both “E Dorian” and “All of them”.

   Time signature: 𝟓
   𝟒

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3. “Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt” (20:15) [DR14]

   Latin: “All Roads Lead to Sol”

   Exordium/Terminus Start/End			Movimentum Movement	Trānslātiō Translation
   0:00	7:06	i.	Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce	God’s Speed to You, Black Emperor
   7:06	12:31	ii.	Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum	Four Point Six Billion Years
   12:31	20:15	iii.	Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis	I’ve Seen Things You People Wouldn’t Believe

   Original album: Κᾰτηγορῐκή ᾰ̓πολογῐ́ᾱ

   Music & lyrics: Aaron Freed (2025-02-14 to 2025-04-25)

   Inspired by:

   1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “Piss Crowns Are Trebled”, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, 2015-03-31 (Thierry Amar, David Bryant, Aidan Girt, Timothy Herzog, Efrim Menuck, Mike Moya, Mauro Pezzente, Sophie Trudeau)
   1. The Beatles, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, Abbey Road, 1969-09-26 (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
   2. Nightwish, “The Greatest Show on Earth: i. Four Point Six”, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, 2015-03-25 (Tuomas Holopainen)

   Commentary: original album, subsequent anthology

   Key signature: G minor

   Time signature: 𝟔
   𝟖 (i), 𝟓
   𝟖 (ii & iii)

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4. “Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥” (20:36) [DR13]

   Middle Egyptian: “Hathor’s Lament”
   Romanized: “Nḫj.t n.t Ḥw.t-Ḥr.w”

   𓁶𓏤 Tp Start	𓄖𓅱𓏭 Pḥ.wj End	𓋴𓂧𓏏𓏯𓂷𓂡 Sd Movement
   0:00	11:16	a.	Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥 (prog)
   11:16	15:36	b.	Leela / Covenant Dance (choral)
   15:36	20:36	c.	Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥 (orchestral)

   Original album: Τὸν ὦνον πᾰ́ντων καί τὴν ἀξῐ́ᾱν οὐδένων

   Music:

   • Aaron Freed (“𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥”, 2026-04-15 to 2026-05-30)
   • Alex Seropian (“Leela”)
   • Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori (“Covenant Dance”)

   Briefly interpolates:

   • Black Sabbath, “Fairies Wear Boots” (Paranoid, 1970-09-18) (Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne)
   • Metallica, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Ride the Lightning, 1984-07-27) (James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton)
   • “Diēs Īrae”

   Commentary: original album

   Key signature: D minor and E minor (a); D Dorian (b); D Dorian and D minor (c). (Caveat: I’m using “D minor” the same way Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Prelude I in C major, BWV 846” uses “C major”. Caveat²: I’d be lucky to be a tenth the composer Bach was.)

   Time signature: Mostly 𝟏𝟐
   𝟖 and/or 𝟔
   𝟒 with 4:3 and 3:2 polyrhythms; a few brief modulations to 𝟒
   𝟒

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