Michael Night

Studio Journal A, Entry 2 🌌

The month of May ended on a high note for me… literally! Just minutes before midnight on the eve of May 31, I finished writing the music for “Album A,” and the song I completed felt like the record’s lead anthem.

This completed the first step of my preparation process for the album: creating the skeleton of the songs.

When I work on new music independently, the process always changes. Sometimes, I’ll follow the typical formula of:

1. Finishing the actual music and song structure (the skeleton of the song, which you can hum and play on the guitar, and people will know what it is).
2. Arranging the song (organizing all the instruments and effects around the “skeleton,” which give the song life).
3. Recording the live instruments (guitars and bass), and programming drums.
4. Writing the lyrics (perhaps the most challenging part for me, as it is almost fully an emotional, almost mystical experience every time).
5. Recording the vocals. Once this five-part process is complete, I send everything over to be mixed and mastered.

Sometimes, though, I will have a perfectly arranged section with arrangements, perfect recordings, and even lyrics… but only ten seconds’ worth. Given that this is the first time I have challenged myself to create an entire record independently, I needed more organization and clarity of mind, so I chose to strictly stick to the five-step process listed above and complete each step for all the songs before moving on to the next one.

I do not yet have any specific timelines for the final release because, if the past six years have taught me anything, it is that life can be ridiculously unpredictable. But I did have a deadline of completing the “first step” of preparing my album by June 1, and that deadline was met 🙂 This must be what it is when tiny goals are completed, and each one reinforces self-belief. We could all use some more of that, I feel.

Wishing you, the reader, a wonderful weekend, and thanking you for tagging along! Until we speak again 💙

Mike 🌑

📸: Alexander Kolbaya

Happy Halfway to Halloween, dear ones:) 🎃

🎃🦇👻🕸️

This year has been filled with very special memories from my life abroad, a time when big shows were happening, connections were being made, and everything was moving fast.

March this year fell on the same days of the week as March 2020, when my band and The 69 Eyes were on tour together. I got to relive each day and mentally thank it, and rather than becoming nostalgic or comparing what was to what is, I felt inspired to create again.

Exactly one week ago marked ten years since I first performed for a metal-loving audience. Some of you may remember that evening at Izvestia Hall with Eluveitie.

My guys and I were preparing to release my first EP, Echoes in the Dark, and we performed those songs live for the first time. I had only recently learned how to scream. I was so nervous, but also full of spirit.

The moment I stepped on stage, I felt as though I had found a long-lost family.

At that first show I was still green, and afterward I spent a lot of time analyzing how I moved and what I could have done differently. But that first cry, of both the soul and the vocal cords, in a place ready to receive it, is something truly special and unforgettable.

It became a beautiful full circle that my last big Moscow show was with The 69 Eyes in that very same hall.

Preparing to release that EP felt like taking the first breath of fresh air in a new life. Stepping on stage with the release on the horizon felt like saying “hello” to the world. No promises, no explanations, just “hello.” It felt pure, primal, and warm.

Ten years later, I feel that same energy again.

In this decade I’ve had so many incredible shows and learned so much, both about music and about life.

Right now I’m working on my debut full-length album, producing it myself and collaborating with a talented person who is mixing and mastering the material.

One of the most valuable lessons of the past decade has been falling in love with music again, above follower counts, above algorithms, above all the things we creatives sometimes drive ourselves crazy about.

I’ll share more about the material soon, but for now I can say this: for the first time in a long time, it feels truly balanced between the heartfelt and the heavy.

Although I’ve found my spiritual home in a different place, there are so many symbols of transformation around this time: Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere, Samhain in the Southern, a full moon, the Moon in Scorpio, major planetary shifts, and the beginning of a new month…

A change lingers in the air.

And I sincerely wish that whatever is moving through the ether right now gently guides each of you toward the life you want.

— Mike

#2016