Behind the Music: The Rise of the Phoenix

The Cello, the Grief, and the Toastie That Saved Me

I didn’t touch my piano for over a year.

Music, which had always been my sanctuary, suddenly felt like static. That’s what grief does I suppose – it hijacks your frequencies and scrambles the signal.

Then, one quiet afternoon, something shifted.
I felt the nudge:
“Sit and play.”
“Be friends again.”

This wasn’t a big moment, but a quiet whisper.
The only direction I got was: “A-flat major.”

So I did.
I sat down, closed my eyes, breathed deep, and let all the emotions rise.
A clumsy chord progression and melody slowly emerged.
I hummed it into my phone.
At first, I thought it might be a full Adele-style sob ballad. But as I was orchestrating, the cello began to take over - as if it was the voice (it wanted to be Adele so bad).

This wasn’t a song that needed words.
It needed resonance.
It needed someone willing to channel.

I made a coffee, said yes….and let it flow.

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Frequency as Medicine

I deeply believe music, frequency, and resonance can heal us on a cellular level.
Not metaphorically - but literally.

That’s my mission: to compose music that bypasses cognitive logic
and speaks straight to the body and soul.
If you’ve ever listened and cried and had no idea why - this is why.
This isn’t about ego. It’s about how your spirit listens.

Your body knows.
Your nervous system knows.
Frequency matters. Way more than we think.

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The Rise of the Phoenix was created from the question:

“What does it sound like when someone has just survived something?”

I wanted to make the sound for what survival felt like.
The sound of someone who refuses to stay broken.
Someone who doesn’t run from the grief but turns and faces it head on.
Someone who chooses to walk through it with the intention to be shaped by it.

I wasn’t trying to make a song.
I was trying to make a resonant frequency for my own healing.
A sonic permission slip.

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What You’re Really Hearing (with Your Soul)

Every pause, swell, and string was designed to speak the language your body already understands.

Tempo = Nervous System Entrainment

• 60–70 BPM = your resting heart rate

• Breath slows, shoulders drop

Triggers alpha brainwaves (8–12 Hz) = calm, presence, emotional openness

Timbre = Emotional Texture

• Cello = human voice cry of grief

• Violin = witness to that grief, and response to the cello

• Strings = nostalgia and memory

• Reverb-heavy piano = distance, longing, space to place your own grief

• Sub-bass = vagus nerve activation = nervous system regulation.

This is all designed to shift us out of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and into the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest)

Harmony = Tension & Release

• Suspended chords = tension and ache

• Late resolve = mirrors life.

• Final resolution = dopamine release (comfort, safety, pleasure)

• Open 5ths = grounding

• Minor 7ths = beautiful sorrow

• Major 7ths = nostalgic, hopeful tenderness

Humans are wired to seek resolution and we can sense it coming in the music, but this delay in resolution, just by a bar or two, introduces unpredictability.
This song becomes a mirror for our experience.

Repetition with Variation = Safety + Evolution

• Motifs return like friends but shift slightly = safety + growth.

• Mirrors trauma recovery and neural rewiring

The predictability of these motifs helps us feel safe as we listen, but their subtle variations gently invite us into a sense of evolution - like we, too, can change and still be held

Breath-Like Phrasing = Somatic Sync

• Swell = inhale

• Hold = pause

• Fade = exhale

This regulates cortisol, increases HRV (Heart Rate Variability - a key marker of nervous system health), and gently guides the body into a healing state

Neurological Activation

• Anterior cingulate = conflict + emotional resolution

• Insula = felt sense of self

• Dopaminergic system = activates with final resolve

Your brain isn’t just hearing music.
It’s processing stored emotion.

The Ritual to Receive This Song:

This 4 minute sonic healing journey was made for transformation.
But to really receive it - you’ve got to choose presence.

1. Use headphones. You can use speakers or play it in your car, but the song is designed in wide stereo to create a fully immersive experience. Headphones allow your nervous system to be completely present with the music, deepen the envelopment and access the full scope of the emotion.

2. Find a dark, quiet, safe space. Be in a place where your nervous system can fully exhale. Eliminate all distractions - an eye mask can help you go even further.
   You want to allow your nervous system the opportunity to fully engage with the energy and resonance of this song.

3. Bring a warm drink or snack. It’s all about creating a safe environment that allows your system to receive. (A toastie or gooey chocolatey snack is strongly encouraged).

4. Sit or lie down. Press play. Close your eyes. Breathe.

5. Feel whatever comes up. Grief. Joy. Anger. Nothingness. Just don’t push it away and don't judge it. Let it speak. Give yourself permission and patience to be with your emotion.

6. Allow your body permission to receive the resonance. Give yourself permission and freedom to move and physically receive the music. For me, it’s moving my feet or head along with the music, sometimes I’ll raise/waves my hands as if i’m conducting my emotions, sometimes I laugh, sometimes I sob. It’s about emotional freedom to respond without judgement. Just truth.

The resonance knows what to do. Trust it.

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I made this song to resonate.
It’s not mine anymore. It’s yours now - to hold whatever you need it to hold.

If something stirred in you - a tear, a memory, a breath - I’d love to know.
Drop a comment. Slide into my DMs. Or just say:

“Mate, I cried and then I made a sandwich.”

That’s the dream. Truly.

Let the fire rebuild you.
That’s what the phoenix does.
And now - so do you.