Dol Theeta is my second music project and it is my vessel to explore deeper feelings from our inner cosmos. If Dol Ammad venture into macrocosmic space travels, Dol Theeta philosophize on the fabrics of our existence and our psyche.

The idea to create Dol Theeta arrived back in 2004 while feeling overwhelmed by all the ideas that I had and thinking that if I were to express them all through only one project it would result in an ugly mess. It was about that time that I decided to explore this hybrid of electronics and metal through 3 project which would be both very different and also complementary to each other.

In Dol Theeta I scaled the participants down to a more compact team of three. I would handle the synths and drums, Dim the guitars and bass and for all the vocal tasks Kortessa was the perfect choice for the job. Her diverse and deeply emotional vocal skills still amaze me every day.

Up to now we have released one full album and two EPs with Dol Theeta. I hope to keep creating lots more cerebral and emotional journeys into the mind and soul.

Released in 2013, the “Keep Deep” EP is a cinematic roller coaster of emotions. The main song is a 9-minute short-film-like epic about hidden truths and hidden feelings. I tried to fuse my usual electronics and metal but with folklore instrumentation from the Greek traditional music and Bulgarian-type choir-chants. The resulting music is deep in structure and inspires multiple meanings and thoughts.

The rest of the EP features an orchestral remix of “The Universe Expands” called “The Big Bang” and was a huge undertaking with tons of sounds (yes there are whale sounds inside of course) and alternative melodies to our “classic” Dol Theeta song. I am grateful to my good friend Manolis Gerempakanis who helped me with the orchestral arrangements of this beast!

Finally the EP ends with a cover version of the song “Flow My Tears” by John Downland. It was Kortessa’s idea to do this track which is a beautiful dark poem originally composed back in the English Renaissance period of 1596.

This is a special track I recorded to honor my endorsement deal with Hohner musical instruments. It is a remix of the Dol Theeta track “Something Called Tomorrow” where all the sounds except for bass and drums, come from a different Hohner melodica. I experimented using the melodica as a lead and bass instrument and also through special sound effects. I even used a vocoder to filter the vocals through the melodica sound.

It is available for free download to all subscribers of the Lightbridge Newsletter.

Released in 2009, I’m still trying to explain myself how “The Universe Expands” came to be. Not having a clear of finalized picture of what I was seeking to create, I put down various ideas, dressed them with sounds and improvised on top of them. In fact improvisation was key also in the way we recorded the vocals with Kortessa who would zone out listening to the instrumentals and come up with all sorts of strange phrases and emotions. For a control-freak like me, this composition approach was novel.

The theme behind “The Universe Expands” is that of the manifestation of the soul, the expansion of our inner cosmos and the evolution of our self-awareness. I wrote all the lyrics in my loneliest moments while serving my army time in the island of Lemnos and I feel the final product is one of the deepest I have yet produced. A highlight of the album was my cooperation with the phenomenal artist Werner Hornung for the artwork and photo-manipulations. His quote “The better you look, the more you see” fits perfectly both the music, art and my philosophy behind Dol Theeta.

Released in 2008, the “Goddess” EP was a “testing the waters” type of release. The same-titled song started life as an outsider but ended being one of the most important ones for the album. In “Goddes” and the upcoming full album “The Universe Expands” I did my first experiments with world instruments. Bagpipes, flutes, violins and other ethnic sounds were a refreshing break from the electronic sounds I was more used to by then. I believe the third track “Deathstars” is a hidden diamond, one of my favorite Dol Theeta songs.

A highlight of this EP is our first attempt into the world of music videos. Developer Harry Kalogirou did a great job creating all the visuals and editing our raw footage into a highly respectable result using the open source 3D graphics software Blender. I remember tearing down the house to install the green screen and lights while still in my first awkward steps into video-making.