Release Date: April 19, 2025
Artist: Jonathan Kendall (ONOJK123)
Album Art: Chronicles of the Starmancer — AI-assisted, heavily edited digital artwork by the artist
Introduction: A Journey Into Mythic Electronic Alchemy
Discovering the Ontiscopic marks the third major chapter in my unfolding musical cosmology — a hybrid of electronic storytelling, metaphysical imagery, and high-concept fantasy. This album continues my long-running experiment of blending detailed digital artwork with spacious, atmospheric soundscapes to construct an entire narrative universe.
If my debut album (Atlas of Understanding) was the cosmic atlas, and my second album was the entropic-logic rock opus (Vector Collapse), then this album is the mythic grimoire — the magical codex that reveals the inner workings of a world where symbols melt into sound, and sound becomes ritual.
Across 11 tracks, Discovering the Ontiscopic follows a wizard-philosopher traveling through realms of ontology, hyperreality, and symbolic geometry. Every piece is designed to feel like a chapter from a magical manuscript — rich, mysterious, and shimmering with cosmic possibility.
The Artwork — Chronicles of the Starmancer
The album artwork is built upon my DeviantArt piece “Chronicles of the Starmancer”
👉 https://www.deviantart.com/onojk123/art/Chronicles-of-the-Starmancer-1122245941
The starting point was an AI-generated image — but only as a raw spark.
How the Artwork Was Made
After generating the initial concept, I pulled it into GIMP and performed what I call painting by filters, my trademark workflow:
- re-painting entire regions with layered fractal noise
- adjusting cosmic lighting and magical auras
- reshaping the wizard’s silhouette and staff
- adding color geometry reminiscent of leyline maps
- enhancing the fabric with detailed textures
- introducing high-contrast nebula clouds and star matrices
The final result is not AI art — it is AI-assisted art, deeply reworked and reimagined through hours of manual sculpting. What began as a simple prompt evolved into a fully-realized, cosmic, psychedelic portrait of the Starmancer — an archmage navigating the structures of reality.
This visual style became the aesthetic foundation of the album: symbology, cosmic grids, glowing metaphysical energy, and the blending of fantasy with ontology.
Concept & Themes
The word “Ontiscopic” is my own hybrid:
- Ontic — relating to being, existence, the nature of reality
- Scope — an instrument of observation or revelation
The Ontiscope is the wizard’s tool — a device for perceiving deeper layers of reality.
This album’s story revolves around:
- discovering hidden principles of existence
- navigating symbolic geometries
- witnessing cosmic cause-and-effect
- blending magic with metaphysics
- and transforming perception through sound
Musically, it fuses:
- atmospheric electronica
- mystical ambient
- experimental fantasy synths
- cinematic sound design
- glowing, textured production
Track-by-Track Commentary
1. The Wizard’s Coinduction
A ceremonial overture. This track introduces the Starmancer manipulating the currents of cause, effect, and magical resonance — “coinduction” as a meta-magical, co-creative act.
2. Phenomenomancy
Divination through lived experience. This track blends shimmering pads with strange, flickering motifs that rise like visions.
3. Lambda of the Leylines
A rhythmic exploration of energy patterns that run through worlds. The “lambda” suggests both wavelength and logical structure.
4. Hyperreality Principle
A bright, glasslike electronic landscape reflecting the tension between illusion and truth. Inspired by the philosophical roots of hyperreality.
5. Ontological Gradient
The emotional center of the album — climbing through layers of being, one texture at a time.
6. Symbolic Continuum
Symbols, icons, and archetypes dance in a continuum of shifting forms. The beat pulses like a cosmic metronome.
7. Teleologic Cascade
A waterfall of purpose and directionality — the universe finding shape through intention.
8. Semiosis of the Soul
A quieter, introspective piece. Meaning-making as a spiritual act.
9. Ex Falso Magica
Inspired by the logical principle ex falso quodlibet — “from falsehood, anything follows.” Here, it’s reimagined magically: even from chaos, new worlds can be born.
10. Categorical Imperius
A tongue-in-cheek wizardly take on Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Ethic meets magic.
11. Monad Unbinding
The closing spell: the unweaving of the single unit back into multiplicity. A dissolution into light.
How the Music Was Made
Each track was produced using a blend of:
- custom synthesizer patches
- multi-layered ambient textures
- melodic fragments shaped to feel like magical runes
- rhythmic scaffolding that suggests ritual or incantation
- a focus on world-building through sound
The intention was always to create music as literature, each track a chapter, each sound an artifact of the Starmancer’s journey.
Streaming & Availability
Discovering the Ontiscopic is available on 23 streaming platforms, including:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- YouTube Music
- Amazon
- Deezer
- Tidal
- TikTok
- Pandora
- And many more
You can listen to the full album on YouTube here:
🎧 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu084TTc9UU&list=OLAK5uy_keA48j53Vl9HymOIGkxpdFVzLfdo0eCSc
Your DistroKid HyperFollow page makes it easy to share the album anywhere.
Closing Thoughts
This album represents a turning point in my artistic evolution — where digital art, philosophy, and sound merge into a cohesive mythic universe. Discovering the Ontiscopic is both a narrative and a soundscape, a magical manuscript set to music.
Whether listeners explore it as pure ambient electronic or as a metaphysical journey, my hope is that it pulls them into a world of wonder, thought, and cosmic creativity.
Thank you for exploring the Ontiscopic realms with me.
