N E O N T E N I C
N E O N P R I N C E
My second album (2020) has strong synthwave and cyberpunk influences. It's inspired by my trip to Japan of 2019.
It's set in Tokyo of 2085, and tells of a photographer, Kazuhiko, who lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
He is passionate about neon lights, dark atmospheres, he dreams of capturing the perfect light in the night. He will discover an extraordinary power that will lead him in a solitary space adventure.
STORY
Kazuhiko is a night photographer living in Tokyo of 2085.
He has a night shooting passion, and he tries to become one with the neon lights.
Kazuhiko is mad about it. He wants to capture the perfect shoot.
On New Year's Eve in Tokyo in 2085 he discovers that he has a sensational power...
He discovers that he is able to deceive time, to stop the light in an instant and to give it life. His photos come to life, his shots become formidable representations of luminous beings able to interact with other living beings. His neons speak, and that fragment of time necessary to animate them, a shot of a photo, remains eternal rather than ending in an instant. His passion, his wave, will never die.
The Cyberclub is one of Kazuhiko's favorite places. After the shocking discovery of what he could do with his camera, he runs to the club where he meets his friends Satoshi and Mia.
Increased and excited by this revelation, Satoshi senses a great opportunity to give hope to a distant civilization that is dying in space.
There is not time to loose. Satoshi explain that in his work at JSE (Japanese Space Explorations) he is currently in charge of maintaining contact with a civilization in another constellation in serious crisis, as their star is dying. Kazuhiko's extraordinary power may be a solution to save their world. Hurry, soon, on the Tokyo highway towards the Space Center. Mia, come with us!
Satoshi convinced Kazuhiko. So it is time to organize his departure, an unexpected, long, lonely journey to unexplored worlds awaits him, to try to save billions of lives. Not everyone would have accepted. But Kazuhiko realized that the gift he received should not be confined only to his photographs. Being able to contribute to the happiness of an entire civilization was an almost obligatory choice for him.
So, it's time to take-off.
Komorebi is an untranslatable Japanese word, which eloquently captures the effect of sunlight streaming through the leaves of the trees. The shadow created on the ground, or even in our curtains, describes this everyday beauty 🍃
This is what Kazuhiko thinks about when observing the Sun's rays penetrating through the small windows of his spaceship. There is still a long way to go.
Kazuhiko's solitary space journey continues, floating fast between cosmic clouds and unknown stars 🪐
In love with neon signs, he discovers how much the universe actually has to offer and how limited his vision was before. He has an important mission to accomplish, but his journey is still very long indeed.
The album ends with the piano solo track "Crystal Hope".
I have composed many tracks for piano, but this is one of the ones I liked the most. There is also a very important meaning behind it: I composed it in March 2020, during lockdown. We all had hopes of getting out of it. And on top of that, my girlfriend and I were trying to have a baby. And our hope, after months, was fulfilled: in April of 2021 I became dad of a little man, and I still can't believe it.
Listening to this track reminds me of our efforts, it is like if I had dedicated it to him even before he existed, and it fills me with joy.
It is with my hope and Kazuhiko's hope that my record concludes. Mine is to make a person happy. His is to make happy an entire civilization.
Thank you very much if you have read this text, in which I tell you the story of Neon Prince.
story by Neontenic.
art by Neontenic via AI.
"Cyberclub" by Skiegraphicstudio.
cover art by Dangiuz and Kenzo Art.