For the past few months I've been working on an AI generated alternate solstice remix album. It's now released on Youtube and Spotify, and should be on Apple Music soon.

My favorite genre of song is "cover that reimagines the original." Everyone else's favorite genre of solstice song is "exactly the way it was performed at their very first solstice", so it's not obvious how big an audience this will have. But I had a lot of fun with it, and I found it useful for exploring:

• What if solstice music leant itself better to dance? Can I make it more energetic while still feeling like part of a meaningful ritual?"
• What if speeches had background music interwoven with them?
• Just generally trying out different genres and instrumentation.

Last weekend I tried out the first album in a smaller experimental solstice event. We were in a somewhat-too-small room for the number of people we had (20-30ish). My intent was for the first third and final third to be danceable-ish, without encouraging it in the dark, contemplative middle act.

I think in practice it makes more sense to lean into dancing in the final third, after people are more warmed up. In particular: the song "The Circle" lends itself to a semi-structured dance where everyone gets into a circle and spirals around. The structure helps overcome an initial wave of awkwardness as people look around nervously and wonder "if I'm the first or second person to get moving will I end up looking silly?"). 

Also: it turned out the heretofore unreleased single from the Fooming Shoggoth's, "You Have Not Been a Good User" fit well into the arc, so I ended up including that on the album. :)

I have a vague plan of making four albums in the "ReSolsticed" series:

• Vol I: "We're Not Going Quietly" (intended to be a functional Solstice arc)
• Vol II: "Into the Night" (intended to be fun dance remixes for an afterparty)
• Vol III: "Morning Light" (quieter covers that'd make for nice music to wake up with a cup of coffee)
• Vol IV: "Many Worlds" (everything that I liked that didn't really fit into another category)

The pieces on the first album are:

1. Bring the Light
2. Bitter Wind Lullaby
3. Chasing Patterns
4. I Found a Baby Djinni
5. You Have Not Been A Good User
6. Darkness, Fire and Ash
7. Hymn to Breaking Strain
8. Something Impossible
9. Brighter Than Today
10. The Gift We Give to Tomorrow
11. The Circle
12. Gonna Be a Cyborg
13. Artesian Water
14. The Virtue of Fire / Bring the Light Reprise
15. Five Thousand Years

Happy Solstice.