We Remain
"We Remain" is Muidas' fourth single, the last one of the "Time Passes" project. The song is characterized by a sad and melancholy mood, with slow piano notes occasionally echoed by a ghost-like effect. The last section includes a narrated excerpt from Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse,” a superlative rumination about grief and memories. Inspiration came both from the novel itself and the composer's struggles as an expat living away from his homeland, the island of Sardinia.
Since I left Sardinia, back in 2009, I have been feeling nostalgic for my life in the island and, as as a paradox, I have started to feel a stronger connection to my roots. If fact, I go to visit whenever I can! One evening in the spring of 2018 I sat down at the piano and started playing a bluesy riff in the key of A minor. Easter was approaching and I felt like I missed spending Easter at home. At at certain point the fourth chord of the progression (a Dmaj) turned from major to minor and I ended up with a classic minor progression Dm-Am-Emaj7, resolving in Am. I then decided to glue together the two progressions. My wife was sitting on the sofa, reading a book, and she suddenly said “This melody makes me think of a section from ‘To the Lighthouse’ by Virginia Woolf, called ‘Time Passes.’” Days passed until I finally sat down to read the section. Almost immediately, the music sounded like a really good background . I won’t get into the technicalities of the passage (I am no English major!) but I encourage you to read it for yourself. By way of description, I will limit myself to sharing a few words from Hillary Moses Mohaupt’s blog: “In Time Passes, the brief second section of the novel, Woolf addresses the feeling and state of absence, primarily from the point of view of the Ramsays’ house in which all of the action of the first section occurred.“ After reading the passage, I started to think about Sardinia as if its memories were speaking to me. Will memories fade? Will they vanish? Their answer is: “We remain“.
“We remain“ is also a promise to my followers. This winter, I will be taking a break from my music projects, so I won’t spend a lot of time on social media. However, fear not! I am planning to head back to the recording studio to finalize a couple of new songs that hopefully will be released next year. For now, I would really like to thank you for your incredible support and invaluable encouragement.
The single has been released on all major streaming platform on November 13th 2020.
Enjoy the YouTube video and don’t forget to follow Muidas on Spotify!