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The Phoenix Diaries
After the release of the Zombie Chronicles, I felt excited about my development as a composer and the opportunities that digital recording presented me to continue to bring the music in my head to reality. I struggled with what to do next thematically; any “story” I could think of seemed to mirror my previous two concepts too closely. After catching some Harry Potter movies late one night while channel surfing, I chose to concentrate my thoughts on what the life cycle of a Phoenix might look like. While not as fully fleshed out or exciting as other ideas, it gave me basic structure and song titles to work backwards from.
The album has grown on me over the years. It is more experimental and progressive, as I applied more learnings from my research. From song to song, I think the album is stronger, but thematically it definitely suffers from a lack of vision. My desire to maintain my “18 songs pre album” standard also put me in a spot where I felt I may have included or written tracks based on that principle alone.
That said, some of my favorite work writing wise is on this album, including Dawn, How Shall I Save Your Soul and The Calm Before.
You can learn more here about this work.
Available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music.
The Zombie Chronicles
In 2020, after recording and releasing my first instrumental work, I was looking for what to do next with my newfound knowledge. I had been researching music theory online, but I work best when I have a strong idea to work backwards from. My eldest son was into writing, something I had also done in my youth, and was working on something he called the Zombie Chronicles, a lengthy story with his sister and cousins as characters. One night at dinner I looked at him and said out loud that I would write a soundtrack for the film if it was ever released. I’m not sure he necessarily liked the idea.
I, on the other hand, now had a story to work with, and structure to follow. In addition, I wanted to model that sometimes you can take a personal creative project, conceive it, execute it, and publish it, for no other reason than you are excited and happy to do the work.
I wrote this quickly; the speed with which I work is always an indicator of how strong my idea is or how much clarity I have with my goal. I wrote, recorded, and released the Zombie Chronicles in roughly 5 months, by far the shortest time it’s taken me to execute a concept.
You can learn more here about this work.
Available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music.
A fresh start in 2026
It’s a new day. It’s a new year. 2026 will bring a lot of changes, both personal and professional. I find myself with more free time than expected right now, and as a result I’ve decided to focus on re-engaging with the public.
I’ve spent much of the last 8 years working, growing, and becoming a better leader and teacher. I’ve spent time mentoring others to the point where I finally feel like I can do so without my imposter syndrome kicking in in full force. I’ve made a ton of friends along the way, relationships that will outlast changes in employment and location.
But it’s a new day and a new year. I’m in the process of updating my homepage and it’s accompanying blog. I’ve added an updated resume, including a portfolio and a project list. I’ve also added in depth descriptions of what I’ve done and been doing musically, and will continue to flesh that content out as I have time over the coming weeks. If you happen to encounter incomplete pages, don’t worry; they’ll fill out soon.
In many ways, one could say it’s a scary time to be putting oneself out there and expressing opinions or views or trying to educate. But the reality is, there’s no better time than now to engage. I’ve been focused inward on family and music and life for a long time now, and I don’t regret it at all. But perhaps it’s finally come to a point where the world at large might benefit from my perspective.
Or it might now. Time will tell.
Be welcome and true.
Rob Hope 