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Title: Otter Space Release Date: 2025-12-19 Tracks: 9 Length: 0:37:58 Tracklist:
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My minimal techno space opera mini-album. Originally, I wanted this to be another "filler" EP like 2024's Zesty Claus, but it quickly expanded into the mini-album it is today. Since the majority of the songs on Otter Space originate from several years prior, this release more so acts as a challenge for me to reuse old material. Thankfully, I think it all ended up sounding pretty cohesive.
As with most of my projects, the idea for Otter Space came after several of its songs had already been created. In late January 2024, I created a track that would later be retooled and renamed to Interplanetary.
In late May 2024, I started on a track that would be revised dozens of times to become Escape Velocity. This was a track I imagined being the soundtrack to a space voyage. Shortly after making this song, I imagined making a space-themed EP, but had trouble putting together more songs that suited the vibe I was imagining. I often struggle to create songs after I have an idea. My best work is when I have no plan, and only afterwards realize certain songs sound good together.
In mid July 2024, I made the song I left untitled and unconnected from any other songs for months, but eventually it became Kuiper Belt. Around this time, I also decided to cancel the space-themed EP. I had been simultaniuosly working on two potential follow-up EPs to BIZ001 and this would have been a third simultanious project, which was just too much to work on at the same time. Plus, as I said before, I was struggling to make songs for it.
In mid November 2024, I started working on the song Apogee, which would be later be tweaked several times.
In late January 2025, I found an old project file of mine from almost exactly five years prior that had a really cool melody and drum pattern. I promptly got to work updating and adding to the song and not long later I had finally finished what would become Beyond Time. Way back in 2020 I called it Beyond Jupiter as an obvious 2001 reference.
On 2025-04-28, I had another idea for a space-themed EP called Otter Space. Somehow I had completely forgotten about my failed space EP from last year... I shared this idea with my husband who quickly drew up potential artwork, but it was eventually scrapped. Upon this idea's inception, I threw together a tracklist with seventeen potential songs. All of them simply tracks from the past few years that had a moody vibe. Eight of the final nine tracks were among these. The rest I do not consider b-sides, and aren't that important. Most ended up on other projects.
After widdling down the tracklist, I started thinking about how the songs felt in certain orders. I shifted tracks around many times before I settled on what felt nearest to most distant, to create an implied journey away from Earth.
On 2025-05-23, I had the realization that another old track of mine, from September 2020, would fit really well on Otter Space. That night I fairly effortlessly remixed and modernized the song and slotted it into the tracklist. With this, the EP had grown into a nearly-forty minute long mini-album... The music was all finished.
The final artwork was once again drawn by my husband, who began work on version two in late May. It was perpetually tweaked throughout the following months and was finally finished just hours before the mini-album released on bandcamp! The mastering was once again done by cjb, same as Swim. Like the artwork, it was completed just hours before the bandcamp release.
Otter Space released on 2025-12-19.