Nureun - Steps in Static Purpose

Composed for the famous Igor Cognolato and the Veneto Art and Music Summit in Asolo and Venice Italy, July 2025.

Nureun is the name of the fictional God of lost souls, gates, new beginnings, and the connection between life and death. The human who took its mantle has seen no new souls since mankind's immortal endeavors, and has grown senile whilst rotting in limbo; a liminal space between life and death. In the originally written graphic novel ‘A Tale of Two's’, the android questions the gatekeeper why the space has taken the shape of a forest, with sounds and sights that repeat frequently. Nureun explains that the travel between realms was meant to be presented in a manner most calming to the subject. The last human he had ushered found refuge in the woods near his resting place, and the reason for the repeating sights and sounds is due to the one minute limit to which limbo offers lost souls. The piece “Steps in Static Purpose” is meant to be a musical realization of the space itself as the android finds his way to Nureun; a minimalist piece based on repeating figures, intervals, and consistent rhythms that “reset” in some sense every minute is meant to evoke the emotions the android felt when listening to the repeating sounds of this false nature landscape. The piece is one of many in the ‘A Tale of Two's - Shadows of Unspoken Glory’ album; a musical realization of the stories, interactions, and psychology of the antagonistic characters present in the graphic novel ‘A Tale of Two's’.

Performed by Igor Cognolato