Queen of the Underworld: Persephone’s Journey
Crossing worlds, getting lost between dimensions, feeling time break apart. Queen of the Underworld is a sonic journey inspired by the myth of Persephone and Hades, an ancient tale that explained the cycle of the seasons. The story begins with Persephone picking flowers when suddenly the earth opens up, and Hades drags her into the underworld. Her mother, Demeter, desperate, searches for her daughter, and in her sorrow, makes the land dry up, plunging the world into an endless winter.
This narrative of loss, transition, and rebirth echoes in every track of the album, where music becomes a space of evocation and sonic landscapes. Queen of the Underworld does not follow a linear narrative but instead captures the sensation of displacement between two realms—the vibrant and the spectral, the earthly and the ethereal.
Musically, the album moves between experimental electronic and electroacoustic music, exploring synthesis, sound manipulation, and field recordings to create immersive atmospheres. Processed sounds and organic noises intertwine in a space where acoustic and electronic textures merge, reflecting the ambiguity of Persephone’s journey. At times, the sound is dense and claustrophobic, as if trapped in the depths of the underworld; at others, it opens into ethereal and luminous breaths, evoking the memory of a distant world.
Each track represents a stage of this passage—from the abduction to her permanence in the underworld, from Demeter’s sorrow to Persephone’s cyclical return. The album invites the listener to get lost in this sonic flow, crossing the boundaries between the real and the mythical, between the surface and the depths.
1. Picking Flowers
The calm before the rupture.
The opening track presents a solo piano with delay, creating an atmosphere of repetition and sonic accumulation. Just like Persephone walks distractedly through the field, unaware of the chasm about to open beneath her feet, the piece unfolds in an almost hypnotic manner, with musical gestures multiplying. Each sound echoes five times, as if time were folding in on itself, about to shatter.
The music grows organically, the notes intertwine, forming a circular, dense, and accelerating sonic mass. When the intensity reaches its peak, it dissipates, preparing the listener for the final chord. A foreshadowing that something subterranean is already looming.
2. A Crack in the Earth
The inevitable happens.
The ground opens, thunder rumbles, and Persephone falls. The track begins with the sound of rain, melancholic and dense. Thunder cuts through the sky—the moment of rupture. Erratic electronic sounds evoke the instability of a radio frequency searching for signal, oscillating between smooth and rough textures, never settling on a tonal center.
A brief harmony emerges, a glimpse of stability. But soon, it is swallowed by the abyss. The surface closes. Persephone disappears.
3. Underworld
The portal closes, the passage begins.
The descent into the underworld is marked by distorted voices, growls, and murmurs echoing from the depths. Electronic sounds blend with organic noises, creating a space that is as dark as it is alive.
Persephone is immersed in a labyrinth of echoes and shadows. Wet footsteps emerge in the darkness. Time stretches. The underworld is not just a place—it is a living consciousness.
4. Mother’s Lament
The world breathes grief.
Demeter, in her relentless search, wanders across barren lands, while a repetitive guitar marks her despair. A voice emerges in a pure, wordless lament, filling the void left by her daughter.
Time accelerates, the music fragments, the chords become dissonant, reflecting the growing sorrow. In the end, only exhausted sighs remain. Winter sets in.
5. Winter
Time freezes. The land closes.
A cold harmony expands, distant bells echo. Electronic string textures creak like trees bending under ice. A deep drum resounds, marking the inevitability of winter.
Silence settles in. The world waits.
6. Spring
A crack in the ice. The hesitant rebirth.
The piece begins with a solo piano, fragile and restrained. The atonal melody unfolds slowly, like buds breaking through the snow. The pulse quickens, spring bursts forth with voracious energy.
In the end, the music dissolves into a single C major chord. Spring has returned, but Persephone will never be the same.