James Richmond
Sunday, 22nd March 2026
Over the last year or so, what began as a collection of individual songs gradually revealed itself to be something more structured than I first realised. At the time, I thought I was simply writing pieces as they came to me, responding to moods, fragments of ideas and the occasional moment of clarity that demanded to be written down. Only later did I begin to notice recurring themes, shared imagery and a sense that these pieces were speaking to one another.
What emerged from that process is a trilogy: Fragments — The Deathbird I, Ashes — The Deathbird II, and Signals — The Deathbird III.
The Deathbird itself has become a kind of symbolic centre for the work. Not a literal character, but a figure that allows distance and focus at the same time. A way of holding ideas at arm’s length so that they can be examined without being overwhelmed by them. In many ways, the bird represents observation rather than action. Witness rather than spectacle. A presence that survives across changing conditions.
Each part of the trilogy feels like a distinct state.
Fragments is concerned with formation. With the accumulation of detail and the gradual emergence of identity from scattered pieces. There is a sense of tension in that first chapter, of things still becoming, still unresolved. The imagery reflects this: growth, density, and a certain kind of internal pressure.
Ashes moves into aftermath. Not collapse, but survival. The moment after the fire, when the world has quietened but the evidence remains. Smoke, silence, and the fragile persistence of what is left behind. It feels reflective rather than destructive, and carries a sense of stillness that only appears once movement has stopped.
Signals represents something different again. Structure. Alignment. Communication. It feels less organic and more deliberate, as if the fragments have been gathered, the ashes settled, and something coherent can now be transmitted outward. The imagery here became more symmetrical, more ordered, reflecting the idea of language and pattern emerging from experience.
Although each part stands on its own, they are designed to sit together as parts of a continuous arc. The same figure appears in each, changing subtly from one state to the next. The same materials persist, altered by circumstance but never erased entirely.
This post is simply a first glimpse of that structure.
More details about the music itself will follow in time, but for now, these images offer a visual outline of the path the project has taken. A way of marking the stages that led here, and of setting the frame for what comes next.
