- Words Darcy Culverhouse
Channelling non-conformist spirit, eccentric polymath Realma unravels her deepest dystopian moments on her latest track, ‘Down The Railway Spine’.
In the world of Realma, songwriting isn’t just putting pen to paper; it’s a conduit for escape and reverie. Here, otherworldly sonorities shimmer like avant-garde tapestries, as they paint the canvas of Realma’s daily existence with all of its light and dark hues. With an expansive palette of influences, she crafts a quintessential sound that is simultaneously postmodern and atavistic, weaving together a tapestry of melancholy, empowerment, and cinematic grandeur, all tinged with a bewitching allure as she journeys towards greater realms of eccentricity.
While her latest release ‘Down The Railway Spine’ is a track brimming with experimentality and creativity, it’s also a track infused with honesty and introspection. Created while she was struggling with PTSD, each note and lyric is a reflection of her ongoing battle with the tumultuous waves of mental health—a journey fraught with conflict and resolution. Such conflict is transformed both lyrically and musically into an intense track, which at points recalls the feelings of a filmic boss battle.
As the production fringes on electronic pop, elements of a game-style soundtrack are intertwined as the track swiftly progresses into 4-minutes of thematic energy. Through the action-packed soundscape, fierce orchestration is delivered in combination with unique vocals, as synth embellishments swoop in. From the terror-charged introduction where synths and dramatic string melodies hauntingly come together, to the syncopated chorus that intensifies the tension, the track feels nothing short of a movie soundtrack.
To capture the dystopian vibe, Realma collaborated with award-winning animator, Mihajlo Dragaš, to create a 3D animated music video that narrates a story of an interstellar racer on a mission to save his young sibling. Through futuristic neon-clad visuals – reminiscent of Blade Runner – the animation propels viewers on an odyssey across three contrasting planets with a cataclysmic monster waiting in each.
On the track, REALMA says, “’Down the Railway Spine’ is a song that delves deep into my innermost dystopian moments dealing with PTSD. Both the lyrics and the music describe those dark times when I’d been fighting a whirlpool of emotions in episodes of mental deterioration. Yet, there is also a heroic tone to the music, something undefeated, where I address those pieces of us that remain courageous and continue to defy even the eyes of the worst downward spirals. While there is some affinity towards gaming styles like epic tracks from League of Legends, this single is much more experimental with a distinctly experimental edge and highly irregular 7/8 rhythms pulsating throughout.”