Track By Track: Patrick Belaga – Solar Calf

Music

The soundtrack to a video game that doesn’t exist

‘Solar Calf’ is Patrick Belaga’s second solo album, released on PAN this summer. Conceived as the score for a video game that doesn’t exist, it borrows its structure from open-world titles like ‘Zelda’ – zone-based, with tracks that begin, carry you through a space, and end abruptly when you leave, rather than following a conventional intro-verse-outro arc. It follows a decade largely spent scoring documentaries, a more formal discipline that Belaga says still fed the record’s spirit.

Opener ‘Axis’ sets the tone with a piece born from watching Pina Bausch’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ at Sadler’s Wells, before ‘The End Has No End’ turns towards espionage-film atmosphere via David Holmes’ score for Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’. ‘Upsurge’ chases the cosmic expansion of a solar eclipse, ‘Winding Through the Labyrinth’ traces a mycelium trail through the Pyrenees (and an unplanned dip in a duckweed-covered pond), and ‘Swarm of Lighht’ channels Steve Reich’s repetition and restraint into something built for an early morning walk. ‘Plotted Graph’ plays out as the boss fight in Belaga’s non-existent game, ‘Tri-meld’ rides a steampunk train through shifting countryside, and ‘whatisthat’ pulls from Jeff VanderMeer’s ‘Annihilation’ for the record’s sci-fi curveball, before ‘Lake’ closes things out at the bottom of a still, black alpine lake.

Patrick walks us through it track by track below.

<a href="https://patrickbelaga2.bandcamp.com/album/solar-calf">Solar Calf by Patrick Belaga</a>

AXIS
Apricot orange – season: October, mid Fall, Autumn

The idea behind Axis was formed in a park in London on a clear crisp day in Fall. It’s the opening scene to the game. I had recently seen Pina Bausch’s work ‘The Rite of Spring’ at Sadler Wells with a friend, and it had a significant impact on me. The athleticism of the dancers and the immense life force pouring from them on stage made me want to create a piece inspired by their vitality.

THE END HAS NO END
Grape purple – season: December, Winter

The End Has No End was honestly my ode to ‘espionage’ films. I saw the Steven Soderbergh film ‘Black Bag’ with Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett (two of my favorite actors, I could watch them knit a sweater for 2 hours in a theater). The score was beautiful – by David Holmes – which had a sort of 60’s influenced spy quality that I found perfect for the film. This track is meant to sound curious and mysterious, with an element of searching and seeking.

UPSURGE
Juniper green – season: April, early Spring

Upsurge was inspired by a solar eclipse. I’ve seen two full solar eclipses, one in 2017 and one in 2024. I became mildly obsessed with the magic of those experiences and will be seeing my third this summer in Spain. Upsurge was an attempt to recreate the cosmic expansion I felt while the totality alignment formed above us.

WINDING THROUGH THE LABYRINTH
Mushroom brown – season: August/September, late Summer

This piece was inspired by a hike I did in Spain in the Pyrenees. I was looking at a mycelium network of little mushrooms and following the trail they made. I mistook a small pond disguised by wall-to-wall duckweed, for a patch of grass, and completely fell into the pond, soaking myself and emerging covered in tiny little green dots. Later that week I set out to make a piece that felt like the soundtrack to that hike.

SWARM OF LIGHHT
Guava pink – season: late May or early June, late Spring

Swarm of Lighht was inspired, in general, by Steve Reich’s compositions. Studying his music in Uni at music school, was a catalyst for developing my own personal style. His use of repetition and (sometimes agonizingly) slow evolutions of harmony taught me a lot about restraint and intentionality in composing. I imagine listening to Swarm of Lighht as you walk (or run) through a meadow early in the morning sun.

PLOTTED GRAPH
Plum blue – season: November, late Fall

Plotted Graph is the boss fight track in the non-existent video game. You’ve just stumbled into the final area of a level and a giant goat with 6 flaming horns come barreling down the mountain towards you. Parry parry roll-dodge strike strike. Critical hit. Switch your armer for flame resistant leather. Try not to get trampled or scorched.

TRI-MELD
Cherry red – season: mid Summer, July

Tri-meld I came up with on a long and beautiful train ride through the countryside. I was fantasizing about being on a steampunk style train, sort of like something out of that French animated film from 2003, Triplets of Belleville. I wanted to evoke being carried along through an ever changing landscape towards an unknown but exciting destination.

WHATISTHAT
Angel’s Trumpet peach – season: February, late winter

This track is, I think, the most sci-fi curveball on the record. I’ve always loved science fiction books, and one day hope to score a sci-fi film. Jeff Vandermeer’s ‘Annihilation’ book series is a constant source of inspiration for me. I wanted to capture the sensation of seeing something so deeply confusing and awe inspiring, that you begin to question your entire understanding of reality. A point in the “video game” where what you thought you knew, is thrown entirely into question.

LAKE
Blackberry indigo – season: March, beginning of Spring

Lake is an ode to a pine forest with a cool clear black lake in the middle. I’ve always thought alpine lakes have a particular spooky quality to them. So still, and black, and deep. Coming across them in the forest when you’re alone is a very particular type of emotion that’s hard to describe for me. Something about a quiet deep lake that just feels like it contains mysteries that have sunk to the bottom and are forever lost to time. Ominous, yet also peaceful and still. Something resolvedly unresolved.

Album out now on PAN vinyl, download streaming HERE.