“PTSD: PARIS-TOKYO SUBORBITAL DEPARTURES” By Marc Soucy

So far, none of the neural networks have been able to effectively analyze sound “PTSD: Paris–Tokyo Suborbital Departures,” or place it under a label. This synesthetic piece is part of his visionary STIR series. As the twelfth installment in the project STIR: Soundscapes Evoking Realities Only Imagined, “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” serves as the deepening of Soucy's emotional and imaginative structures that he builds using sound. The track is now available on global streaming platforms like YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Tidal, and more. “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” takes us through a fantastic world- the futuristic dread, dislocation, and self-thinking which is perfectly suited, and may be far more relevant to the times we are now in and those of the future.

From the first second, the track brings in an unsteady and haunting stimulus that seems to hover just above the surface. Along with the unnerving energy of the Synths, there is an intertwining of digital debris hinting at distant sirens or countdowns going off, or memories fading into thin air. The title itself is a double entendre: “PTSD” brings forward memories of trauma while “Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” brings forth a sci-fi form of elite escape or travel. In joining these ideas, Soucy tries to mold a composition that feels deeply personal yet universally relatable, a flight from trauma and trauma caused by an escape.

This expression of conflicting sentiments is typical of Marc Soucy. Given his more than two decades old career as a producer and composer starting with the 1980s, followed by a full-time production career from 1997 to 2011, Soucy’s mastery is the fusion of cross styles and sound design into sculpted expressive vignettes. “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” is like a short film without visuals: it has a cinematic, sculpted, and deeply expressive quality. The pacing is steady, but unpredictable. The mechanical pulses of a high-tech launchpad integrated with ghostly harmonic layers suggest memories or lost voices calling from the past.

What stands out most is Soucy’s talent in merging electronic minimalism with maximal emotional weight. This is not music for background sound; it greets (and rewards) deep interaction. Each element is positioned strategically to accomplish echoing his ethos that music ought to portray “the emotion implied in a scene or event.” In “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures,” that event might be a spaceport farewell, the psychological reverberation of global conflict, or an imagined future where progress costs isolation. His years of hands-on engineering and later mixing at Boston's Renaissance Recording Company come through in the technical precision of the piece.

The STIR series is defined by nuance, and “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” is perhaps one of its strongest entries. Marking almost a year with the series that started with “Tashkent Club Fire” in June 2024, it has certainly set an impressive trajectory. With every new release, the series attempts to push limits and further challenge the listeners’ capacity to feel, visualize, and interpret. “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” serves as a poignant illustration of the project’s emotional ambition and depth, resonating strongly as a reminder while the series prepares for its final studio entry, “Through The Quadrangle,” set to release June 6, 2025.

Aside from the music, Soucy deserves a major shout-out for the courage of vision that drove each piece. Soucy’s work is impossible to forget, I'll go so far as to say it's not simply streamable, oh no, not at all. After years lurking in the shadows as a producer, his bold, unapologetically expressive style came with striking originality. For those searching for captivating ideas alongside unmatched sound design, “PTSD: Paris-Tokyo Suborbital Departures” is essential to listen to and can be streamed on every major platform if you’re ready to lift off ,not away from reality, but into layers of its imagination.

Written by Manuel