Signalbone by Retromod

With *Signalbone*, we’ve unearthed something truly… different. This isn't just another collection of bone-songs; it's the culmination of years spent digging through the archives of Ossendorf, trying to piece together a story we only ever heard whispered in the wind through cemetery gates. For generations, the Bone Cartographers have charted the silent migrations, understanding that every femur and rib holds a whisper of its journey. But then these "Signal Bones" started speaking, not just echoes, but outright transmissions, urgent and strange, especially whenever modern hums pierced the quiet of our ancient walls. It felt like the very ground beneath us was waking up, sending out new frequencies we never knew existed.

This album, *Signalbone*, is our attempt to map that sudden, overwhelming burst of communication. We started with 'Ossendorf Awakening,' trying to capture that first tremor of disquiet when ancient bone-memory met the cold, hard tick of buried mechanical clocks. It’s a slow, unsettling crawl, like something vast stirring from a long sleep. Then came 'Cartographer's Signal,' which, for us, was a genuine breakthrough. That was the moment we realized these mysterious bone circuits weren't just chaotic noise; they held patterns, rhythms that began to sync with our cranked phonographs and the drone of our hurdy-gurdies. It was wild, almost euphoric, finding that pulse, a genuine conversation starting between the deep past and our analog present. It’s what we heard as the "Cartographer’s Signal," and it just… stuck.

We dove deeper with 'Tibial Frequencies,' wondering how different bones carried different messages, like specific wavelengths. It was a painstaking process, trying to separate the static from the genuine, intentional communication, but moments of unsettling clarity would break through, making you feel like you were eavesdropping on centuries-old secrets. That led us to 'Rothwell Procession,' a somber, determined march, a pilgrimage of these Signal Bones carrying their messages to a single, powerful convergence. There’s a certain urgency in that track, the layers multiplying as we tried to keep pace with the sheer volume of history being unearthed.

Working on 'Chamber Resonance' was almost meditative. We found ourselves pulling back from the frantic decoding, letting the very wooden resonance chambers we use for recording become instruments themselves, shaping the raw signals. It was a profound lesson in how the vessel can transform the message, allowing the chaos to settle into something coherent, almost beautiful. And then, everything culminated in 'Mechanical Communion.' That track… that’s where it all truly clicked. The clatter of analog tech, the thrum of the bone-threaded strings, the deep hum of the hurdy-gurdies—it all locked into a unified pulse. It was pure release, a moment of synthesis where tradition and innovation didn’t just meet, they *danced*. It felt like we were finally understanding the instructions for harmonious coexistence that the Signal Bones had been trying to send us all along.

After that immense breakthrough, 'Parchment Protocols' became our ritual of re-engagement, the methodical scratch of quills against aged paper as we began transcribing these ethereal transmissions into tangible maps, creating new ways to document the very fabric of time. It’s about anchoring the otherworldly in the everyday, preserving wisdom even when it arrives through impossible channels. And finally, 'Ossuary Harmonics' brings it full circle. Here, the entire monastery’s collection, every single bone, becomes a part of the grand chorus. It's the ultimate realization that the Signal Bones weren't new at all, just an amplified voice of something that was always there, waiting to be heard. We’ve always seen our music as a form of historical excavation, but with *Signalbone*, we feel like we’ve unearthed a living conduit. It’s an immersive journey, designed to pull you into that same sense of wonder and disquiet, a meditation on how our relentless push forward is always shaped by, and in turn shapes, the profound echoes of our shared human past. This is for anyone who listens to bones sing and hears the future in the past.

We map forgotten territories through grinding strings and weathered instruments, channeling old rituals into hypnotic passages.