User:Invirtualskies/sandbox

In Virtual Skies is a Canadian-Australian electronic duo that consists of brothers Michael and Delcan Freckelton. The two began recording in early 2016 and produced an album in the latter half of 2016 named Here Or Not.

Before In Virtual Skies (2012-2015)
Michael and Declan Freckelton grew up in a family of two other brothers and three sisters. Although they both had more serious goals in mind, music was always something that they enjoyed, thinking at many points in time that they would start a band. The first attempt was led by their brother David in 2012 as they tried to form a band with friend Coram Baer, despite not owning any instruments. Naming themselves 'Johnny and The Runaway Five', they began to write songs with the intent of recording them when they acquired instruments. However in 2014 Declan decided that he no longer wanted to be part of it when David's lyrics began to turn political, and Michael decided that the band was a lost cause and left as well.

In September of 2014, Michael began work on his own music for a school project. Originally envisioned as a full-length album, the project eventually boiled down to an EP of four songs. The first (and only) time the EP was made public was at the showcase of the project in March 2015.

After the showcase, Michael wiped the CD on which the EP had been on, only to realize that the only copies of 'Genesis' and 'Reckoning' he was aware of had also been deleted from his hard drive, leaving only 'Dreamstate' and 'New Worlds'. Michael then remastered the EP, cutting the last moments of 'New Worlds' and 'Dreamstate' into new tracks and renaming 'New Worlds' 'to 'Space Travel'.

After this project, Michael left music alone for some time, feeling that he had failed in his recordings. However, urgings from those who listened to the EP convinced him to continue recording.

In the late days of October 2015, Michael and Declan were faced with a new project. They had been thinking of making a Christmas present for their relatives and decided that they would record an EP together as that present. Naming the EP 'The November Project' (as it had to be completed by the end of November), the three began to assemble pieces of music for the EP. Whilst considered by the Freckeltons as a musical failure, the EP contains the first recordings written by Michael and Declan together and forms some of the backbone of what would become 'In Virtual Skies'.

Formation and early works (2015-2016)
After The November Project, David went on to follow solo projects whilst Michael and Declan began planning for their own project. Originally titled 'Defiance', the two began to slate up some plans for their first album. It was to feature a reworked version of 'Opening' from The November Project and an entirely re-recorded version of 'Dreamstate'. These album plans were for the most part pushed to the side as 2016 began.

In the middle of 2016 Declan came up with an idea for a piece revolving around the manipulation of the Windows '95 theme composed by Brian Eno. Michael agreed to this, and the two began work on the piece that would eventually form into a track titled 'Welcome To Earth'. Whilst it started as a mess around project, it soon became much more than that, designed to describe humanity's obsession with technology. This piece and a remix by Declan were recorded but weren't initially released due to concerns of copyright issues.

After this piece was recorded, Michael and Declan began looking into ways of selling their music, only to find that the name 'Defiance' was already taken. Declan eventually came up with the name 'In Virtual Skies', and it stuck. After finalizing their name, Michael and Declan resumed serious work on their first full-length album.

Phase One: Here Or Not (2016-2017)
The original concept for Here Or Not was that Michael and Declan each got a twenty-minute block to represent themselves, similar to the studio half of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. However, this concept soon proved difficult to work with and was quickly dropped. The recording sessions for Here Or Not were sporadic and wildly varied in style. The first items recorded for it took shape in Declan's electronic 'Metamorphosis' and 'Fugitive', both of which were favourites for some time to be included on the album until dropped relatively early in the compilation process. From there, Michael began adding his own compositions into the mix, including the space-trip 'Hadfield Station', a score he had written for a film a friend of his had made over the summer and the re-recording of 'Dreamstate'. The two then wrote the title track and interludes together, and Declan provided his own compositions, the uplifting track 'Sunrise' and the final track 'Denouement'. The last track to be completed was 'Aquarium', which Michael had written for someone who had heard his work and encouraged him to keep writing, asking Michael to write a song for her.

After the completion and mixing of the original track listing for Here or Not, the brothers felt dissatisfied with their work so far, but felt they would release it all the same. However soon afterwards Michael acquired a digital audio workstation, and what was originally planned to be some light reworking evolved into the complete rework of the entire album. Of the original track list, the only complete tracks that remain are "Here or Not" and "A Cup of Time". The rest were either re-recorded ("Aquarium" and "Dreamstate") or ditched entirely in favour of new compositions. "Dreamstate" was re-recorded by Michael under guidance of Declan, who helped guide the sound of the final product towards a mutually acceptable sound for the project. "Aquarium" was re-recorded by Michael alone. Declan in turn recorded a piece on his own named "Sokudo", which was later remixed both he and Michael due to quality issues with the original recording. They also re-recorded a track from The November Project they had written together, repurposing it as the introductory track for Here or Not.

The first single, "Sunday Afternoon", was recorded based on a photo of the Freckeltons' sister standing on their front lawn. The brothers had felt the photo had a dreamy, almost whimsical feeling to it, and decided to record a piece around it, eventually using it as the cover art for the single release. It was here that the brothers established the direction of their music, deciding to focus on a dreampop style for the purposes of the album.

"11:40 PM", the second single, was also based on external influence. After hearing M83's track "Slowly", Declan proposed to Michael that they write a track along similar musical lines. Under this guidance "11:40 PM" was written and arranged, Michael doing much of the production work after initial composition. Upon hearing the finished product, Declan was momentarily under the impression that he was in fact listening to My Bloody Valentine - the two considered this to be a success. Michael and Declan struggled to name the track for a while, for a time using the name "Night Life". It was eventually named "11:40 PM", a reference to Michael's apprehension about walking through the big city late at night. "11:40 PM" was later re-released as the "Cyberpunk Remix", in which the track has been remixed to fit the synthwave style inspired by Home's track "Resonance".

Here or Not was released on digital platforms on 3 October 2017.

Before the release of Here or Not, Michael released Longshot: Original Score, an EP that he wrote for the student film Longshot: The Brian Upson Story. Whilst it was never used due to complications in the post-production phase of the film, Michael decided to release it all the same, feeling it was good enough to be heard. It was released on 15 September 2017.

After the release of Here or Not, there were still a few bits and pieces that the brothers felt were, whilst not good enough for the album or left off for timing reasons, still good enough to be heard by the public. The resulting release was Exotix, a 17-minute EP comprised of five tracks. The first track is the take of "Aquarium" that was slated for release on Here or Not before the re-records, which Michael had still liked but not seen as quite good enough to go on the album. "An Alien's Imagination" is a piece written by Declan for the purposes of Here or Not, but he eventually decided to save it for the EP release. "Get Forms" is a track written in collaboration with their brother David for the first time since The November Project. This track was mostly produced by Declan and David, as Michael was unsure of the direction of the track at the time. The track "Sokudo (EP Version") is the original recording of "Sokudo" that wasn't used for the album release. "Victory (EP Version)" is a re-recording of the track "Victory" from The November Project, a track that was originally going to be placed towards the end of Here or Not. However Declan expressed dissatisfaction with it, and it was re-delegated to the EP.

During the re-recording of Here or Not, Michael began digging through old files to see if he could produce any tracks that he thought would be worth a second attempt. During the process he found a set of alternate takes, drafts and other recordings that, coupled with tracks from The November Project and a new stereo mix of the version of "Dreamstate" from New Worlds EP, would form what he proposed to Declan as 'the session tapes compilation'. Declan agreed, and Michael compiled what was eventually titled Here or Not: Sessions 2014-2017. It was released on 1 December 2017. The cover art used for the compilation was the cover of the original mix of Here or Not, which was abandoned when the re-recording of the album moved it in a lighter direction than had been anticipated, making the cover art they had designed for the much darker original mix somewhat misleading.

Phase Two: Juveniles (2017-present)
After the release of Sessions, Michael announced through the In Virtual Skies social media that a new phase in the duo's work was beginning. Soon after he elaborated that Phase Two concerned the themes of adolescence and high school, which will be conveyed through their upcoming second album Juveniles.

Juveniles was a concept that Michael had considered for a few years under a few different shapes. The first idea was to record a double concept album - the first half telling the story of a high school student as he moves from freshman to graduation, and the second half telling the personal story of his own infatuation with one of his friends. After ditching this grandiose concept for the album Michael pitched it to Declan in a simplified form, instead broadening the focus of the album to the general feelings and emotions that high school and adolescence entailed for them. Declan accepted this concept, and the two began work on the album in the winter of 2017, writing up a sketch of a track list before working on composition. This album is set to be the first one featuring lyrics from the duo.

The first track to be recorded was "The Last Five Years", which was written by Michael to fit a feeling of fantasy, as a commentary on the expectations on high school held by many upcoming students.

All tracks written by Michael and Declan Freckelton except where stated otherwise.

Members

 * Michael Freckelton - piano, guitar, keyboard, composition software (2014-present)
 * Declan Freckelton - composition software (2015-present)

Discography

 * Studio albums
 * Here Or Not (3 October 2017)
 * Juveniles (4 January 2019)
 * The Digital Age (TBA)


 * EPs
 * New Worlds EP (5 April 2015) (as Michael Freckelton)
 * The November Project (30 November 2015) (as The November Project)
 * Exotix (1 November 2017)
 * 11:40 PM (Remixes) (15 February 2018)


 * Singles
 * "Sunday Afternoon" (24 July 2017)
 * "11:40 PM" (6 August 2017)
 * "Escaping Reality" (1 March 2018)
 * "The Next Five Years" (1 April 2018)
 * "Sliver of Light" (1 May 2018)


 * Compilations
 * Here or Not: Sessions 2014-2017 (1 December 2017)
 * Juveniles: Sessions 2017-2018 (11 January 2019)