Decibel and members of Dark Tranquillity have a long history. Our most recent encounters have ended up in cool collaborations like our Flexi Series, where the Swedes dropped “Sorrow’s Architect” (HERE) on Decibeldom as Flexi dB032. So, it’s our pleasure to premiere the second track from Dark Tranquillity guitarist Niklas Sundin’s — who’s currently on hiatus from the Gothenburg legends — new creative endeavor, Mitochondrial Sun.
Psyched to yet again be privy to and part of Sundin’s artistic outlet with the premiere of “Celestial Animal.” Similarly, Sundin is also pumped that his new project is getting some presence with Decibel. In typical fashion, the Swede had this to say: “I’m very happy for Decibel offering to host the premiere of the second Mitochondrial Sun single “Celestial Animal.” It’s a more organic and atmospheric song than the techy first single “Nyaga,” starting off with grand piano, cello and vocal synthesizers before transforming into a more rhythmical piece that seeks to invoke a sense of “futuristic nostalgia” — a retro vision of the future if you will.
The music has a lot of processed field recordings and samples, and I wanted a similar “layered” approach for the video, which features lots of lo-fi footage with little ambition to appear slick or polished. The imagery is often repurposed and distorted, and the general idea is to use symbol laden visuals that trigger the imagination of the viewer rather than presenting a clear storyline.
The drum programming for “Celestial Animal” was handled by Dark Tranquillity keyboard wizard Martin Brändström, and the string arrangements and playing were done by Annika Blomfeldt. Anders Lagerfors’ careful mixing and arsenal of vintage equipment added another layer of atmosphere.
This project started out as a creative playground and a way for me to try some new ways of musical expression, and before I know it there was more than enough material for a full-length album. The music spans a variety of styles, and while the songs share a similar atmosphere, they’re pretty different from each other both in sound and execution.”
Without further ado, here’s Mitochondrial Sun’s daring electronic mood-swinger “Celestial Animal.”
