Heroic Hearts Project 'AYA' - a group of veterans embark upon a retreat for healing through psychedelic therapy in the jungles of Yelapa, Mexico.

You can watch the full film/Documentary here:
vimeo.com/814826769?share=copy

Making of: 'AYA' Soundtrack

Once the end-of-the-year celebrations with two crazy techno gigs were over, I slowly entered the Shamanic world, with a small 'Golden Teacher' mushroom ceremony as opening. Luke, the Director, had been very supportive and left me a lot of room to develop my own interpretation of the soundtrack-

The film team provided me with so many sounds, moods and instruments to work with, and Luke’s instructions were driven by such genuine excitement and pure creative flow. The psychedelic experience, the visions, the didgeridoo, the drums - the piece was to be trance, cinematic… all these elements contributed to the creation of one fluid piece of music, that you can also listen to without the video - it still makes total sense!

He had also provided me with six days of non-stop audio recordings of the rainforest, the ceremonies, the dialogues before and after. All the crying, trauma, laughter - there was everything. As I listened, I often thought about how amazing life is - that when you least expect it, it puts you in front of certain experiences. I really felt these veterans and their suffering in the studio with me, I cried and laughed with them.
It was beautiful.

We wanted the music to touch different emotional states, initially denser and more turbulent as the veterans come to the healing center with all their trauma and their fear. But the simple fact that they are there also means that they are “trusting", they have "faith" - giving themselves in the hands of a Shaman lost in the jungle. So the music is also soothing at the same time that it is tense.

I recorded the instruments you hear as shakers, chimes, bells, shamanic drums and bowls in my studio. The double tone Fujara flute is courtesy of my dear friend Luca “Oraya” from Peru, who sent me the recording. The drones and pads are created with a Dave Smith Sequential synth, DeepMind12 analog polyphonic Synth, arm in arm with various virtual instruments mainly from Native Instruments. As well as Omnisphere2 from Spectrasonics. And almost all elements are going through a Hologram Microcosm FX to add the ethereal spaciousness.

I tried to match Luke’s vision to tell the story of trauma being confronted, being purged, only to be pervaded by enormous gratitude towards the end - by the joy of being alive, of being able to tell your story and accept that story. To be able to include all of that into your life as a reason to evolve.

Participating in a retreat with those master plants. It's the most courageous act of self love. You are "reminded" of how incredibly important it is to turn off your mind, close a curtain on your everyday worries, the past, and simply relate to the world through your heart and the present moment.

I hope you enjoy both this release and the film!