2020 Roundup and a Look Ahead
Happy New Year everyone! And welcome to 2021!
We made it!
2020 has been such a wild and unexpected year for everyone, and indeed for me. I still strongly remember writing the music for Land of Fertility (War) when first reading about the new coronavirus in January. But whilst it has been a difficult year, it has also been a successful one. Let’s recap a few highlights from the musical year in Camiel’s world:
Lockdown Livestreams
The COVID-19 Pandemic dominated the year (and continues to in some places). In New Zealand it was particularly felt during March, April and May, when the country entered a strict lockdown to eliminate the disease. For 50 days of lockdown Kiwis were confined to their homes and, similarly overseas, people were coming to terms with the rapidly changing times.
For the duration of New Zealand’s lockdown I decided to do a 10-minute livestream from my piano every day. The aim of this was to provide a chance for some time out from the stress and chaos of the outside world. I improvised on my piano for everyone to relax and enjoy.
The initiative was very popular and most appreciated by people all around the world. If New Zealand goes into lockdown again, I will be back at it!
You can rewatch all 50 livestreams over on Youtube.
Utopia Founded
On 1 August I launched Utopia as my name stage-name and composer name for all my music endeavours. Effectively, it was a rebrand of my musical ambitions. Utopia represents my vision of music as medium to spread joy and make the world a better place. The very definition of utopia is a place of perfect society. It is my belief that any utopia we may achieve for ourselves will involve music in its purest and most genuine of forms.
However, I also founded Utopia as a means to expand my reach - both overseas, online and into different mediums. In particular, I began targeting video games, where my style of composed music would feel most at home. For a place like that having a swanky-as cool name helps!
You can start your journey to Utopia by following on Spotify, Youtube, Facebook and more!
Themes of the Old World Released
My New-Years resolution for 2020 went something along the lines of “finish something for once!!”. Indeed, after commencing the project in June 2019 I pushed over those final bumps to release the 24-track “unidentified new-age classical music” (as described by an Amazon review) album Themes of the Old World. This was easily my biggest undertaking ever and was especially more special for being my first major release in four years.
The release of this album, both through digital distribution and streaming services, and within third-party mediums like video games, has catapulted Utopia on a growing trajectory. I wrote this music and but it on Spotify as a personal passion project - basically it was a bucket-list item to listen to my own music on Spotify. But now it opening doors and providing endless opportunity that I had never even imagined. I was planning to spend the second half of 2020 and most of 2021 on another completely unrelated personal passion project!
It has been so rewarding, and so thrilling, to see the music growing in popularity (though still very humble) and I am forever pleased by the amount of joy that has spread and the feedback I have received.
You can listen to the Themes of the Old World album on Spotify, Youtube, Amazon, Apple Music & more!
What’s Next?
So now you’re curious for what 2021 might have in store? Let me shed a bit of light on that.
First, the Scandinavian Overhaul soundtrack will be releasing on Spotify et al. on January 8 as a new mini-album titled Songs of Scandinavia. This music is one of the first sets I wrote for an overseas video game project. There are eight tracks, all inspired (but not necessarily themed) around eight areas of Scandinavia and the history involved.
Check out the album cover below!
Songs of Scandinavia, releasing on digital distribution and streaming services worldwide on 8 January 2021.
If you haven’t already, hop over to Spotify and hit the follow button so you’re ready to listen as soon as the music arrives!
Second, I have multiple major commissioned projects in the queue. In fact, I have so many of them I have estimated it will taken about four years to write all the music! So expect a couple of themed mini-releases throughout the year as I work with creators around the world to enrich their projects. Genres vary: think colonisation… Romans… time travel…
Third, I have decided to be more open about my music writing progress and, as such, will be striving to share a simple update on whatever I’m working on every two weeks - even if it’s only to say that I did nothing!
Let’s see how long that lasts :)
Enjoy, and here’s to a marvellous 2021!
- Utopia