For whoever is keeping an eye out for my sporadic updates, it may be obvious by now what this entire project is. This method, as I like to call it, sprung forth circa early 2010’s within the confines of my room thanks to a borrowed Behringer Xenyx deck, a cheap microphone which I had to balance on the edge of my desk, and a cozy classical guitar that my mother had bought for me when I was in elementary.
Busy at the time with the teenage troubles of high school and a whole array of metal bands, doing my own, different thing was a sort of escape and a way to express my inner world through my musical influences. This, I like to think, unique blend consists (to this day) of rock and metal aspirations, indie rock aesthetics and a heavy dose of JRPG soundtracks, mainly from the Final Fantasy franchise (the coveted tripple F).
Admittedly, there is a prevalent chord simplicity that permeates my music and that is no coincidence, as my life at the time was radically shaken by Neutral Milk Hotel’s historical hit album “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”. In fact, the discovery of said band played a great part in my forming, along with two friends, of then indie rock band Hoi-Poi Farplane Wind in 2011, mischieviously named after an item from Dragonball Z and another from Final Fantasy X.
I mention this because Bonfire Realm and Hoi-Poi were two separate entities that co-existed and had formed a sort of symbiosis through their shared DIY methods. What I would learn on my own time producing myself I would bring over to the band, and then acting as a de facto producer for the band (where I also played bass and did back vocals) would feed back into my solo project, providing me with valuable experience.
This all brings us to the first album I released under the alias of Bonfire Realm (which was in fact only decided on a short while before said album). This, anthology, as I like to call it, named “Haven Intermediate” was released in 2015 and contained a selection of tunes that were written and recorded over the course of 2010 to 2015. Its thematology spans a great deal of my middle to late teenage years, and, to my dismay as its creator, really shows my immaturity in these first steps of music production. That doesn’t change the fact, however, that I love it very, very dearly, so much that I sometimes low-key feel like I will never be able to top it, it being such a pure work of passion and childlike wonder.
Back to my then band, I think it is important to note that a year later, in 2016, we would release our first album “Forever Knows Best”, an album that I really poured a bit of my soul in, despite the fact that I explicitly wrote only one song out of the twelve. It was by then the most ambitious challenge to take on as a producer and I have to admit that it is a rather daring piece of art, both when it comes to the music but also when it comes to its unique soundscape. It was a pleasure to have taken an active role in its formation and I consider it, spiritually, a part of my music catalogue.
This experience, along with important life events, would soon be the spark that ignited a new set of songs that would eventually comprise my second album, “You” in 2017. This would mark a new completed challenge for me as I took it upon myself to try a new method of parellel writing and recording, with all songs being worked on side by side over the span of roughly one and a half years.
I will be very honest, however, and admit that, even though it was another step forward for me, looking back at it, it taught me mostly what not to do again instead of what to do more of. That being said, I love it as I love all my music, it being a crystallisation of a particular set of feelings and situations from back in the day.
Subsequently, I entered what I like to call the modern Bonfire Realm era (bit of a grand idea you have of yourself now, don’t you, champ), with the songs of “Waning 1” being, in fact, written in late 2017 and worked on throughout 2018 along with a bunch of others. Maybe, there is a reason that Waning is numbered. I don’t know! It is important to note, however, that in 2019, faced with a myriad of personal events, I had to leave Hoi-Poi. They are continuing without me, though, so go give them a listen!
Needless to say, the pandemic that followed was a strange time in my life (like literally everyone), but the time I had to spend shut inside was a great chance to start recording previously written songs, this time armed with renewed resolution and a shift in perspective. Since then, my goal is to push the boundaries of what I can do by myself, in my own space, with my own equipment. I like to think that I achieved this goal, and said EP, “Waning 1” was released in 2021.
Now then, there is a lot in store and, I assure you, it is only bound to get better. You are ready to enter the realm with new knowledge. What do you think you’ll find?