STYLE Dreamlike cinematic art-pop with an Echo Veritas signature: beautiful, mysterious and increasingly unsettling. Begin with intimate piano, airy analogue synths, distant guitar harmonics and a restrained electronic pulse. Warm male vocal, calm at first, growing urgent. Add subtle rhythmic shifts, strange harmonies, reversed textures and glitches without becoming noisy or futuristic. Build from dreamlike intimacy to expansive intensity with bass, live drums, layered vocals and sweeping synths. Include a dramatic breakdown before a huge finale. Sophisticated, emotional and philosophical. No EDM drop, robotic vocals, obvious computer effects or spoken narration. LYRICS — “IF THIS IS REAL” [INTRO | DREAMLIKE, MYSTERIOUS | MALE SOLO | PIANO + AIRY SYNTH | SPARSE] I woke up in the morning And everything was there The coffee on the table The sunlight on the chair The same old road outside me The same familiar faces Beneath the same old stars [VERSE 1 | CURIOUS, UNEASY | MALE SOLO | PIANO + SUBTLE PULSE] But something feels different I can't explain the change A moment disappears Then somehow comes again A stranger on the corner Says something I just thought I turn around to find him But somehow he is gone [PRE-CHORUS | BUILDING | MALE + LOW HARMONY | BASS ENTERS] Maybe I'm imagining Maybe I'm awake Maybe every answer Is hiding in the question I make [CHORUS | HAUNTING, MELODIC | LEAD + HARMONIES | FULL BAND + SYNTH] If this is real Why does it feel like a dream? If this is real Why isn't it what it seems? Who put the stars above us? Who taught the moon to shine? How will we know the truth If the truth designed our minds? If this is real Tell me what is real [VERSE 2 | MORE UNEASY | MALE LEAD | PIANO + GUITAR + PULSE] I've found an old photograph Of somewhere I've never been I know the face beside me But I don't know where or when I asked somebody about it They laughed and said my name But when I looked away They didn't look the same The clocks keep turning The numbers never lie But sometimes every second Feels like the same second passing by [PRE-CHORUS | INTENSIFYING | LEAD + HARMONIES | FULLER BAND] Maybe I'm imagining Maybe I'm awake Maybe every answer Is hiding in the question I make [CHORUS | BIGGER, URGENT | LEAD + LAYERED HARMONIES | FULL BAND + SYNTHS] If this is real Why does it feel like a dream? If this is real Why isn't it what it seems? Who put the stars above us? Who taught the moon to shine? How will we know the truth If the truth designed our minds? If this is real Tell me what is real [BRIDGE | STRANGE, SUSPENDED | MALE SOLO | PIANO + REVERSED TEXTURES] What if the walls are only walls Because that's what we were taught? What if every memory Was written before we came? What if I have asked this question A thousand times And every time Forgot the answer? [INSTRUMENTAL BUILD | UNSETTLING | VOCAL FRAGMENTS + HUMS | PULSE + GUITAR + SYNTH] Look closer... Something isn't right... [VERSE 3 | URGENT, AWAKENING | MALE LEAD | FULL RHYTHMIC FOUNDATION] Now the lights are changing But nobody looks up The traffic keeps on moving The world refuses to stop I see the same man walking I see him pass again Same coat, same shoes, same shadow Was he always there? I reach toward the window And suddenly I know There is something on the other side Of everything I know [FINAL PRE-CHORUS | HUGE BUILD | LEAD + HARMONIES | DRUMS + BASS + SYNTH] Maybe I'm imagining Maybe I'm awake Maybe there's a door here And all I have to do is look [FINAL CHORUS | EPIC, TRANSCENDENT, UNEASY | FULL BAND + SYNTHS + STRINGS] If this is real Why does it feel like a dream? If this is real Why isn't it what it seems? Who put the stars above us? Who taught the moon to shine? How will we know the truth If the truth designed our minds? If this is real Then who are you? If this is real Then who am I? If there's something waiting On the other side of this life... Would we recognize the truth If it opened its eyes? [BREAKDOWN | TOTAL SILENCE, SUSPENDED | MALE SOLO | SINGLE PIANO] Tell me... When do we wake up? [OUTRO | EERIE, BEAUTIFUL | MALE SOLO + DISTANT HARMONY | SINGLE PIANO NOTE + AIR] If this is real... Why can I remember A world I've never seen? [ONE FINAL PIANO NOTE] ...
