- 1Metris - Mercy
016
•
Open edition
Something I promised from myself for 2025 was to be more consistent with uploading music. After Expressionless last year, I didn’t really release anything for about 6 months until Winter Pinings at the turn of the new year. That track was supposed to be somewhat of a turning point for me to get to try and release more often. Then uni existed. I didn’t really want to fall into the same trap as last time, so I looked at WIP projects for any tracks close to completion worth releasing; the one that I wanted to release the most was Mercy. Slight caveat to this though. Mercy was actually a track produced entirely for my first assignment at uni, so it needed to be checked and cleared before I could properly release it. Also, it’s my first track produced in Logic Pro, even before Winter Pinings (so I’m still definitely learning that DAW out still; wish I could use FL Studio in uni lol).
Anywho, onto the track itself. So part of all of my assignments in uni, regarding producing a track, it’s highly encouraged to have a strong idea for what you want the track to be (genre, themes, even structure at times). So of course, I did the opposite. Personally, I prefer experimenting around with sounds until I create something that I deem interesting enough to build a track around. For Mercy, that was the opening arp sound. Created entirely from one arp sample, and via heavy modulation and automation within Alchemy, it created quite a visceral and botanica-esque resonance that I fell in love with. That philosophy of utilizing heavily experimented samples blended with my own synthesis became the eventual process for the creation of this track.
In terms of theming, I’d say it’s about the constant struggle to find peace within, often battling with oneself to achieve any sense of ephemeral plenitude. This is seen with the lyrics ‘Om Shanti Shanti Shanti’ (a Sanskrit mantra meaning an invocation for peace) contrasting the lyrics ‘No, no, no mercy for you,’ highlighting part of oneself that doesn’t deem it worthy of attaining peace whatsoever. From listening, it’s probably obvious which vocals were mine, but I enjoyed recording them as they aren’t a prominent aspect of the track; a small piece in a larger puzzle. The highlight regarding that aspect was definitely getting recordings done in different pitches, so when they all come in together near the song’s end, it feels whole.
Given that I wanted Mercy to be a journey of a track, that meant having quite an open sonic structure. Whilst I always love the end result of creating a non-liner track, the creation aspect itself can be quite difficult as one must consider what direction would be most creatively fulfilling without being perceived as aimless. Since it's six-and-a-half minutes though, I reckon the structure’s solidly wide enough lol.
Despite Mercy being intended as just a track for my assignment, I’ve always enjoyed the creative sound design and strong sense of identity it had (even with it being my first Logic track; things can only go up hopefully). The ambition was there, it was mainly cleaning up the mix I needed to do to get it released ready. And more surprisingly, Mercy was definitely not a part of Reality Be Overrated. Considering that the EP has had so many tracks that were originally planned and nearly completed, only to be scrapped, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not going to disclose how Mercy fits within the narrative of Reality Be Overrated, but all I’ll say is that this perfect accident worked out.
For now, this will be the last single release prior to Reality Be Overrated. I finally have time to properly focus on finishing it up, and it’s quite the meaty project now (over 40 minutes for just 7 tracks; damn!). So hopefully, that shouldn’t take longer than a couple of months. After that, I plan to just release singles and remixes going forward without another EP project in mind, as I want to explore my sound design further with more consistent releases, and have more self-contained narrative theming rather than something overarching (so look forward to all of that).
Hope y’all enjoy Mercy!
lyrics
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti
No, no, no mercy for you
No, no, no mercy for you
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti
No, no, no mercy for you
Anywho, onto the track itself. So part of all of my assignments in uni, regarding producing a track, it’s highly encouraged to have a strong idea for what you want the track to be (genre, themes, even structure at times). So of course, I did the opposite. Personally, I prefer experimenting around with sounds until I create something that I deem interesting enough to build a track around. For Mercy, that was the opening arp sound. Created entirely from one arp sample, and via heavy modulation and automation within Alchemy, it created quite a visceral and botanica-esque resonance that I fell in love with. That philosophy of utilizing heavily experimented samples blended with my own synthesis became the eventual process for the creation of this track.
In terms of theming, I’d say it’s about the constant struggle to find peace within, often battling with oneself to achieve any sense of ephemeral plenitude. This is seen with the lyrics ‘Om Shanti Shanti Shanti’ (a Sanskrit mantra meaning an invocation for peace) contrasting the lyrics ‘No, no, no mercy for you,’ highlighting part of oneself that doesn’t deem it worthy of attaining peace whatsoever. From listening, it’s probably obvious which vocals were mine, but I enjoyed recording them as they aren’t a prominent aspect of the track; a small piece in a larger puzzle. The highlight regarding that aspect was definitely getting recordings done in different pitches, so when they all come in together near the song’s end, it feels whole.
Given that I wanted Mercy to be a journey of a track, that meant having quite an open sonic structure. Whilst I always love the end result of creating a non-liner track, the creation aspect itself can be quite difficult as one must consider what direction would be most creatively fulfilling without being perceived as aimless. Since it's six-and-a-half minutes though, I reckon the structure’s solidly wide enough lol.
Despite Mercy being intended as just a track for my assignment, I’ve always enjoyed the creative sound design and strong sense of identity it had (even with it being my first Logic track; things can only go up hopefully). The ambition was there, it was mainly cleaning up the mix I needed to do to get it released ready. And more surprisingly, Mercy was definitely not a part of Reality Be Overrated. Considering that the EP has had so many tracks that were originally planned and nearly completed, only to be scrapped, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not going to disclose how Mercy fits within the narrative of Reality Be Overrated, but all I’ll say is that this perfect accident worked out.
For now, this will be the last single release prior to Reality Be Overrated. I finally have time to properly focus on finishing it up, and it’s quite the meaty project now (over 40 minutes for just 7 tracks; damn!). So hopefully, that shouldn’t take longer than a couple of months. After that, I plan to just release singles and remixes going forward without another EP project in mind, as I want to explore my sound design further with more consistent releases, and have more self-contained narrative theming rather than something overarching (so look forward to all of that).
Hope y’all enjoy Mercy!
lyrics
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti
No, no, no mercy for you
No, no, no mercy for you
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti, shanti
Om, shanti, shanti
No, no, no mercy for you
