2024 has been a busy year for Volcano Szn. A 5-track EP (Spring Training) released in April, and now an 8-track LP (strange weather) released in October through ANTE Collective.

Maintaining his audial identity, ‘strange weather’ stretches Volcano Szn’s production strengths in this genre bending experience. In just over 20 minutes, his attempts to build an audial landscape smearing lush ambience over vocal samples, interlacing tonal basslines with exotic pads, and accompanied by lullaby-esque vocals really pulls together cohesively.

Words from Volcano Szn:

“All of these tracks were made in 2024 except for the outro featuring Jubilent on violin. I make a lot of beats, but I often find it hard to add vocals that I’m happy with, especially the writing lyrics part. But since I know a lot of people connect more to songs with vocals, I wanted to push myself to do more of that on this album. I approached it with a story in mind to try and help me write lyrics :

Having just received the bad news that he is terminally ill, a man journeys down memory lane recalling his life up to this point. The tension and fear grow as he is joined by deceased former companions and spirits from the other realm that sense his time to join them is near. Ultimately he accepts his life was worth living and that he can die in peace because he has loved, been loved, and will soon join those who have gone before him on the other side.

This prompt came from various movies and TV shows I had watched. In the final product, this narrative wasn’t at all clear, but it helped me get over the initial writer’s block. I might explore the same idea again in a different medium later.

I felt like I was putting myself out there a bit more on this project, which is also why the cover art features a picture of me, whereas I normally use a picture of something else. My next music project will be fully instrumental since I work quicker that way.”