Lola Jane Knight Mare Hunter

Lola Jane: Knight Mare Hunter takes place between two versions of the same world. Hollowstone is where Lola lives and moves through her everyday life. But as she enters the Dreamgates and confronts memories poisoned by the Knight Mare, that familiar world becomes something else. When I began composing, I kept returning to the idea that the distorted Hollowstone should still feel like Hollowstone. I didn't want the music to become an entirely different piece simply because the environment had changed. For the waking world, I leaned into a warm, slightly melancholic 90s indie feeling, using guitar, piano, and Rhodes to establish a familiar musical identity. A recurring guitar motif became the thread connecting the different versions. As I worked on the distorted theme, I found that the transformation needed an intermediate state. The music could begin to warp before becoming fully corrupted. That led to a third piece, Hollowstone: Threshold, which hadn't been part of the original two loop request. Across the three compositions, the underlying melody and harmony remain recognizable, even as the instruments, pacing, and surrounding textures change. I wanted the listener to recognize the world they knew, even when it no longer sounded quite right.