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"The music of Cantata is the only thing that knows what’s going on”

This was the guiding mantra Kyle and I established at the beginning of development. We knew that the story of Shoal was strange and mysterious, we needed a score that could rise to it. Cantata needed a score with an eye on the big picture yet could find nuance in each moment. All 46 tracks of this compilation capture some thematic element that ties each of the nine chapters together. This soundtrack represents barely half of all the music that made it in.

Through each line of the brilliant scripts (written by Roy Graham and Kyle Kukshtel), the rich, complex history of the three factions backdrops our Commanding Officers. This context inspired every moment of creating the score — the Unified Spirit downloading their sounds from ancient Moog synths and dusty Korg sample patches (“Ten Crowns”), the People of Sun and Shadow crafting their instruments from the stringy, fleshy elements of Shoal (“Pruning the Grove”), the 111th Reign of Harmony and Prosper sucking life from Late Romanticism orchestras to prop up their late-capitalist empires (“Let Him Play”). I strived to give each faction and CO an identity - a worldview - so that when they meet in battle, the music is ready to paint the scene.

Very special thanks goes to Khorikos, the New York City based vocal ensemble stewarded by Alec Galambos, Audio Lead on Cantata. Khorikos’ primary focus is early sacred and new music which, coincidentally, melded perfectly with the philosophy behind Cantata. The group recorded a vocal arrangement of “Prophet’s Organ” by Galambos which then boomeranged back to me and led to the arrangement of a new work “Prophet’s Lament”. We're very proud of what we've accomplished and hope you enjoy.