“I am addicted to storytelling, and that has always come out in my music,” composer Tyler Durham says, adding that COMING HOME, his new album as LIMINA (out April 23rd via Sonic Ritual), was a means of challenging and pushing his own creative instincts.
When the accomplished multi-hyphenate composer stepped into the storied AIR Studios in London last year to record the album, he brought with him music that was born from images, sounds and emotions he observed during regular rides on the city’s subway system. Among the mass of commuters, Durham says, “you get the faintest glimpse of their experience through a laugh, a clenched fist, or just silent contemplation.”
As he internalized the hums and rhythms of trains rolling from station to station, Durham watched riders in the midst of their daily routines and wondered what they might be silently awaiting or confronting. The result of these travels is the breathtakingly dynamic Coming Home, which presents what the award winning composer describes as “a story of someone estranged from their family but wanting to make amends, and what that emotional journey would look like.”
Once the theme for Coming Home was set in his mind, Durham began pulling sounds and ideas from everywhere, using synths like Serum, Cycles, his VSS-30, and was drawn to sounds such as the mechanic chug of trains, the falling of rocks, the tolling of church bells, etc. “Every time I thought of a new idea, learned a new technique, or created an inspiring sound, I would throw it into an ever-growing ‘LIMINA’ folder.” He would have a week or two at a time– between composing music for films– to sort through the ideas, write some tracks, go back to score writing, and come back to this album, only to eventually “throw out” all of the ideas he had previously written. After a year of on-and-off work, Durham finally arrived at the perfect musical expression of the story he wanted to tell in Coming Home.
Truly embodying the story of the album, title track “Coming Home” was the first one written and uses a three-note motif throughout that is meant to symbolize a purely musical mantra of “You are loved.” As the protagonist struggles to believe she will be accepted back in her family, “this phrase is repeated over and over until she finally accepts its truth,” Durham expounds.
Songs like “Dissolved” (second single), “Return,” and first single “Sanctum” feel like holistic expressions of Durham’s writing style, passion for storytelling, and his enjoyment within the creative process. It’s only fitting that the music video for “Sanctum” provides a celestial hammock for the song to intermingle with. Created by artist Teun van der Zalm using cutting edge software to depict ethereal and magnificent nebulae, the video is like a POV of flying through a milky way of colors, swirls, clouds and stars.
LIMINA’s “Beginnings,” however, required meticulous crafting and proved to be a fun challenge because of the constantly varied rhythmic elements in the violins, synths, and drums. Durham even began the song’s writing process by ditching the traditional bow and recording freeform hand strumming on the violin.