Here’s the deal, my friend:

When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077, I’m bordering on the obsessed. I’ll admit, I’ve never delved into the original board game franchise, but the amount of hours I’ve sunk into the CDPR game… probably isn’t worth mentioning. Between the story, the characters, the dystopian future setting, it’s easily one of my all-time favorites, and very much a world I’ve found rather darkly elating to immerse myself within.

So when the opportunity had struck to potentially inject my music into that world… I couldn’t possibly begin to describe the excitement. 

In November 2022, CD Projekt Red (if you’re not in the know, they’re the studio behind Cyberpunk 2077 and my other beloved game franchise — The Witcher) launched a contest, seeking submissions for around a dozen original, previously unreleased songs to be featured in a new in-game radio station as part of the game’s then-upcoming DLC, “Phantom Liberty”. And so to pounce upon the chance to contribute in building that world via my primary creative output (which already bears the sonic aesthetic of racing a hover car through a dystopian futuristic cityscape during a legendary boss fight)… now there was a dream-come-true type o’ sitch.

I’d immediately put all my other projects on hold, and poured my everything into this track. 

The thing is though, I didn’t want to stop at merely making it sound like it belonged in the game, and in that world. I wanted to go deeper. 

To do so, I’d spent hours researching not only the specific district that the radio station would be set in — its history, its culture, its factions and their various motives — but also the overarching lore and even the sort of techno-mysticism that is deeply interwoven within that particular universe. I’d also rebooted the game, started a fresh character, and spent just as considerable amount of time re-immersing myself within that very district, roaming its streets, interacting with its inhabitants, and getting an overall feel for the set and setting. And every lasting impression that my time there had gathered, I had enshrined within the lyrics for this song.

Suffice to say, I’d put a lot of intention into this track, with every inch of the sonic landscape, sound design, and words carefully plotted, and executed in as revered a fashion as I could possibly muster to pay tribute to that world.

In the end, it didn’t actually make for a winning entry in said contest, and that’s perfectly fine; after all, given the immense pool of just as dedicated and likely far more skilled music producers that CDPR has access to, ’twas stiff competition indeed. But even then, it was an absolute blast to work on, and if nothing else, I ended up with a badass tune to release on my own terms. 

Click below to hear it, and peruse all the extras that the public at large won’t be privy to for a hefty long while.