How Landofzion’s Synthwave EP “Vital Signs” Lifted Him Out of Depression

Music is a powerful art form that can lift spirits, invoke sadness, or turn an ordinary situation into a romantic one. Synthwave artist Landofzion is intimately familiar with this phenomenon. Landofzion’s music holds power for himself and others. Creating his 2022 EP Vital Signs gave him a new lease on life, and carried him through a journey of highs and lows.

We caught up with Landofzion to discuss this journey. Here’s what he had to say…

After releasing his second EP Digital Time Machine in 2018, Landofzion decided to go all in on making music by fusing his rock n’ roll roots with his newfound love of synthwave. While most synthwave uses a drum machine, he set out to create a synthwave album with real live recorded drums. To make it all happen, he and his family moved to Utah, where he purchased property and built a studio building in his backyard by himself. After building the studio and writing all the music for the new project, Landofzion encountered a health issue that nearly ended his music career.

He said, “While rehearsing the drum parts for the upcoming album, I began to experience detrimental pain in my right hand. The pain got so bad that I couldn’t play the parts with my desired level of intensity. Like many boundaries faced in life, I pushed harder thinking I just needed to do that to break through. But that made the problem even worse and ultimately I had to accept defeat and realize this just wasn’t going to happen.

Follow Landofzion on Instagram and Spotify.

Landofzion entered a period of depression, thinking the years of construction and planning were all for naught. “I didn’t want to get up in the morning and horrible thoughts were swirling around my head. When you spend years of your life on one pursuit, with every decision aimed at achieving that goal, to have it all fall to pieces right in front of your eyes — it’s bound to weigh heavily on you,” he says. “Also, playing the drums was one of the first things I fell in love with as a child. To have it taken away from me is so devastating,” he added.

However, as he slowly began to create again, he remembered why music was so important to him, and musical creation pulled him back into the world. “Many months later, I decided to play around in the studio, and what I began to create finally excited me about tomorrow. And so the next day would come, and I’d continue to create and eventually, this would snowball into a new EP that had me forgetting about all the horrible things that had happened,” he said.

Landofzion’s 2022 EP Vital Signs, is a reflection of this moment in his life. He fell in love with the new material he was working on, and the new songs saved him from wanting to quit music altogether. After witnessing the changes his music had on himself he remembered what creating songs could do for others facing similar circumstances. He remembered why he got into creating music in the first place — to make these connections with others.

“I guess the moral of this story is to try and hold on as hard as you can while the storm passes, and remember there is still work you can do that can not only impact you, but the lives of others as well… Even if it doesn’t turn out like you had originally imagined. Life throws a lot at you, it’s all about how you react.” he concluded.

The Vital Signs EP ( linked above) has five expressive tracks and is available on Spotify. About Landofzion

Born in 1985, Landofzion is an independent synthwave music artist based in Utah, USA known for punchy, hifi, melodic, and heartfelt songs with a retro vibe.

Around 2005, he started his musical career in Southern California as a drummer, playing in small acts such as the reggae-rock band Burn This for Your Friends. During this time, he took an interest in audio engineering and recorded the bands he played in. Also during this time, he got heavily into electronic music and created EDM under the name FatPucker.

After 10 years of dance music and feeling limited within the genre, he pivoted to synthwave in 2015, combining live recorded drums and synths. In 2018, he released two EPs entitled 1985 and Digital Time Machine. Due to studio limitations, these two releases used drum samples instead of live drums.

In 2019, he moved to Utah where he built a studio in his backyard and started work on what was to be his masterpiece – a synthwave album with live acoustic drums. Sadly, this project was cut short after he began suffering chronic hand pain. The Sentinel was the one finished song from the project. In 2022, he released his Vital Signs EP and Weirder Stuffs single which have fueled much of the growth in his listenership.

His 4th EP, Ghost in the Machine, is a cyberpunk-themed musical journey that will make any synthwave fan smile.

He is currently working on his 5th EP forecasted to release in 2024.