Cities in Ruin

Cities in Ruin is a non-album single released by Trig Jegman on May 9. It primarily revolves around delay-riddled chimes, giving the illusion of crystals or gemstones. The accordion and saxophone melody paves way for flutes to set the scene of what a war-torn field might look like after the damage was done. It may also somewhat be reflective of Trig's personal state given that time in their life was not the most positive of places. Thick strings playing five to seven note chords were also challenging to arrange without overpowering the rest of the piece.

This piece was one of the most difficult to write in the sense of not knowing how the end result will turn out—while it is still a MuseScore directed piece, there was no way to hear the delayed chime/bells part how they were intended to be played until the mixing process actually began once the song was done. It was a huge gamble, but it paid off in spades.

The B-side is an alternate mix caused by complete mistake, as some form of error bounced a file in a messed up sample rate, giving it an anti-nightcore-like lower pitch, speed, and feel. Somehow, it felt fitting for the piece and it was kept for the release.

The cover art is two photography spotlights with heavy color distortion.