Cataclysm of Nations

Cataclysm of Nations is the seventh studio album released by Trig Jegman. Some songs being originally conceived as early as 2021, the album saw full release November 30, 2023. The first "Traditional" Trig Jegman release in nearly two years, this album sought to focus on a return to roots with songwriting, while putting excessive effort into the production, mixing, and mastering processes. While by no means are other releases unprofressional, this one was the first that really pushed Trig Jegman to be a "real" producer of music.

The cover and title is reflective of the ecletcism of the songs themselves. The work comes from a goverment building in Ohio, carved in marble on the side. It's an otherwise hidden panel, but the name seemed fitting of the state of affairs.

As many songs were progressively released for a variety of mediums prior to the albums' release, many songs appeared on YouTube or other forms but are not considered formal singles. The three dedicated singles from Cataclysm of Nations are Tessellating Pavement, Boundless Ventifacts, and Exultant Tropics. 

01 — Boundless Ventifacts

A ventifact is an eroded rock formed from glacial movements. Boundless Ventifacts starts off small, and grows to be larger, and larger, and larger, and larger, adding more elements as the loop cycle continues. Each new line is distinct, clearly throwing the track to a bold new direction. The final melody line has been one of Trig's personal favorites over the years.

02 — Exultant Tropics

A brooding, march tempo set with low steel drums and electric piano opens the way for a flourish of saxophones and guitars for several hooks to establish themselves. The fierce bridge of the song is played by Doctor Whom, heavily edited to make the guitar sound feverish and ephemeral, with animals screaming in the background. Western-style guitars and chimes build the back end of the track. Trig does the animal screeching themself! 

03 — Hope For Tomorrow

Knowing that most tracks are written in dreary, dark minor keys (or more often in phrygian modes), this track was deliberately made in a major key to offset it. With a bright A-section, this synth-heavy track fills the space with ambience and lush melodic lines into a darker B-section. The conclusion? A horn-choir proclaiming victory over darkness.

04 — Lachesism

Originally composed for a Magpie Pirates songwriting workshop, and eventually released on the compilation album Assigned Emotions, Lachesism is the burning desire to turn disaster and ruin into prosperity and strength. The song is dirgelike, and acts as a reminder that no matter what comes by, something will always beat you back down. Church bells close out the track in a haunting requiem for this feeling.

05 — Wind Chime

Perhaps almost comically cheesey, this song was written after hearing a wind chime blow in the breeze. Perhaps for better context, this was while picking up a package in an unfamiliar area, and hearing the wind chime play such a distinct line and particularly in a minor key was simply a unique, albeit jarring experience. It was then converted to song. The opening notes directly parallel what was played by the chime on that day. The tempo of this song is obnoxiously slow, something around 33 bpm (given it being in 12/8 time). This track is one of the oldest on the list, having great difficulty curing writer's block in its development. A few bars would be chipped away at a time, leading to the final product years later.

06 — The Edge

An admittedly direct reference to the Submachine franchise of games, this windy ambient track is a direct parallel to the sixth game in the franchise and attempts to cement itself as though it was something found in that entry. Perhaps still too melodically driven, it opens up the world of possibility for more ambient works in the future.

07 — Hiker Dan's Mountain Caravan

Fading in where The Edge leaves off, this upbeat song was written with a story in mind of this long, horse-driven caravan carrying strange goods in an almost endless line around the mountains. Even when it seems like it's over, even more carts and buggies follow behind, just like the trailing end to the piece. The artwork for this piece features three lights...and is actually just a really compressed image of a ceiling fan.

08 — Midnight Resort

This track is the final song to be written for the album. Like many of the spooky beach songs before it, there is heavy use of diminished chords resolving in strange ways. There's also use of electric guitars and an oh-so-spicy organ towards the end of this song. Going unused in the final cut of the song, the trail end of this piece originally had a ghost choir of sorts singing along, but was determined to be too distracting to the rest of the piece going on.

09 — Temple of the Moon

Every so often, it's deemed wise to experiment in unusual time signatures and this piece is no different. Harkening to explorative video games, it seeks to sound like a late-game dungeon full of crystals, traps, mysteries, treasures, and danger. It almost resolves like a standard 9/4 measure, but goes on just slightly longer to create a sense of unease. Parsing sixteenth notes has never been more nightmarish. Some measures were so difficult to craft that they span the entire width of the screen/page just to fit them properly. The dramatic strum at the end is a harspicord with all sorts of effects tacked on to it.

10 — Phlegeton

The name is derived from Dante's Inferno (amongst other mythical sources) about a chaotic lake or river of fire, constantly bubbling with rage and chaos. This song reflects the instability by completely changing every several measures, let it be time signatures, key, instrumentation, melody, chords, or even mixing production. This incredibly technical work was extremely difficult to produce. It may be somewhat of a "biggest regret", as it never did sound quite right. It may be due to the horn samples sounding quite bright, or the overly lush instrumentation becoming too busy, but it never quite hit the way it was imagined. Perhaps one day, it will be played live in the way it was meant to be heard.

11 — Luminous Umbra

The original demo to Lachesism, this song is thematically similar, being a dirge-like expression. Instead, this song is filled with mystery and intrigue, only parting to reveal the moon's rays.

12 — Orange Pulses of Diminishing Hopes

Inspired by an old Animal Crossing song, this track is optimistic, bright, and uses the all-too-rare fade-out. It almost ends up being something that could be a credits theme to some 80s television show. Melodica and bell synthesizers make up the crux of the melody.

13 — Tessellating Pavement

A magnum opus of sorts. This song came together in a haze, with individual parts fading in and out to create a beautiful piece of art. This song is about finding what it means to be a part of something bigger than oneself. The world is massive, and the opportunities one finds is limitless. Be the best, cohesive self and the world is of unmistakable beauty.