Crossroads by Luci Sheppy

Crossroads is my debut EP as Luci Sheppy.
This EP comes with 2 extra bonus tracks, 2 desktop background images, 2 extra images I took in VRChat as inspiration and an alternative version of the album art.

For the longest time I've been releasing music as InfrUltra, a name derived from Infrared and Ultraviolet to indicate my music as a spectrum of sorts, where exploring the outer edges requires a different way of viewing.

This first EP is microtonal - written in 19EDO, at 430Hz.
I wanted to explore the idea of being lost or being at a fork in the road where the path to choose doesn't seem obvious - the songs tell a 3 part story:
Through the Weeds sketches out the start of the journey where you're aimlessly moving through the natural fauna of a new environment. The path ahead is made solely by yourself but not revealing in nature.
A Space In-Between captures the feeling of being completely lost, reading between the lines too much or maybe going in circles, floating around and not knowing your destination.
All is Well in the End is a conclusion to the story where despite the uncertainty and confusion, you suddenly find yourself at the end of your journey with new hope, courage and a new vision in mind.

This EP means a lot to me emotionally because I made it during a point in my life where I was very lost and vulnerable. I was really afraid I wouldn't find a new direction to take my music into as I transitioned to my new artist profile. I was plagued by questions: "Should I try to appeal to the mainstream?" "Can my music still be unique and weird?" "What if I can't find an identity and everything falls apart?"

The catalyst for this whole EP ended up being my new studies I started a bit more than a month ago, one of the assignments ended up being "make a 3 track EP with some link between the tracks" and I... panicked, because for me it was like I had to make a big choice about what direction I wanted to go, so I started trying different things, experimenting with vocals, instruments, techniques... I just couldn't nail a style I was happy with, I fell into an identity crisis of sorts, and then... I had a breakthrough.

This is the part where I talk about VRChat.
Eventually after enough days of aimlessly making music, trying to find ANYTHING for my college project, I decided to give up and take a different approach - one morning I went into VRChat, looked at the home page and decided to pick a world that would decide the mood or theme of my EP. I found an island world of sorts with some alien stuff or so... When I initially entered the world I figured "I'll just stay away from the weird and wacky stuff, I just wanna take some pictures in the forest or near the mountain top", but as I finally approached the summit and looked down on a valley filled with tints of cyan, teal, yellow, red and green, my curiosity was piqued.

For a little longer I explored the normalcy of a forest and a barn, the rocks and the trees until I stumbled upon an archway. I peeped through the passageway to be met with a pond, various odd creatures with long legs and weird faces, a couple of weird abstract shapes and the weirdest houses I've ever seen. My heart lit up, and a smile formed on my face. The photoshoot continued, and then I finally found it... an Identity. For my music.

Much like the story I explained with the songs, the same thing happened that day in VRChat. I started with exploring aimlessly, I got lost and unsatisfied with my direction and then I found an unexpected serenity where I finally found a new direction...

With my music/branding I've always had the theming of black, red, violet, hard edges, geometry and cleanliness, but that day where I was enamoured by bright colours, fresh and happy yet wacky vibes I realised I don't have to be so serious at all. I adopted cyan, purple and light greens into my artist's colour palette and it livened up the mood so easily. This is it. This is Luci. All is Well in the End...

And remember, Luci loves you~

Tracklist

1.	Through The Weeds	3:15

2.	A Space In-Between	4:10

3.	All is Well in the End	2:54

Credits

released January 10, 2025

License

CC BY 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.