Those Who Walk Away - Afterlife Requiem (2026) [Hi-Res]

Matthew Patton’s album "Afterlife Requiem," released under the moniker Those Who Walk Away, is a conceptual elegy dedicated to the memory of composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and the author’s late mother. The work is built upon unfinished recordings and fragments of silence extracted from Jóhannsson's personal hard drives, interlaced with string quintet performances and field recordings. The composition is structured as a grand ritardando, symbolizing the disappearance of time and the physical world. Patton employs electroacoustic processing and a "subtraction of meaning" technique to create an effect of sonic decay and ghostly presence. The project explores themes of loss, erasure, and the transition into eternity through a synthesis of drone, classical instrumentation, and concrete sounds.

Tracklist:
1-1 Those Who Walk Away - The Beginning And The End [4:07]
1-2 Those Who Walk Away - Seventh Degraded Hymn [3:53]
1-3 Those Who Walk Away - Memorial Environment #4 [5:01]
1-4 Those Who Walk Away - Eighth Degraded Hymn [4:08]
1-5 Those Who Walk Away - Memorial Environment #5 [5:41]
1-6 Those Who Walk Away - Ninth Degraded Hymn [4:22]
1-7 Those Who Walk Away - Memorial Environment #6 [6:05]
1-8 Those Who Walk Away - Tenth Degraded Hymn [6:36]
1-9 Those Who Walk Away - The End Of Life In Sound [5:02]