In The Dark is a song by Troy Mascenon and was released as a single on October 20 to promote his upcoming album Shadows and Silhouettes, which would be released approximately a week later. The song was written, recorded, and produced by Troy himself just like what he did with The Hunter and the Haunted EP. The single's B-side A Great Morning for Mourning was recorded within 3o minutes and was the quickest recording of a song that Troy had ever done in his career. The music video for the song premiered on October 18 and was directed by long time friend Dale Tucker. Artwork was also designed by Dale Tucker.

Tracklisting:

In The Dark (6:31)

Background:
The song started off as a piano-only ballad but Troy found that the combination of dark lyrics and slow music made the song as "boring as fuck", so while in the process of production, Troy researched on some ways to make the song much more "ear friendly". During this same period, Troy picked up his Fender Jazz Bass and started playing some riffs, he then thought that it would be better to put some funk and fun into the song and decided to make the bass a dominant instrument. He also listened to a lot of house music which inspired him to rebuild the song from a ballad to a electro pop dance track, similar to that of the song Peripheral. The lyrics talk about fear, more specifically on how people react to their fears. They look at their phobias as something negative but they don’t see it as something that would make them stronger. Troy based this theme on his experiences as a child.

“When I was about 5 years old, I used to fear the dark, you know what they show you in hollywood horror movies right? That a malignant being only appears in the dark and pulls some scary shit on you. So I feared the dark until I was 7; I was locked up in the janitor’s closet by some bullies and after 2 minutes of whimpering, I realized that it wasn’t so scary at all, I actually liked the calmness and silence in that place. So what I did was I got a plastic bag, put some of my lunch in it to attract 2 cockroaches, took me about half an hour to do so, then when the door was unlocked by the janitor I was able to have my revenge. Let’s just say those kids never ate burgers anymore.”

Song Progression:
A haunting piano melody, similar to that of Alexia’s Theme from the video game Resident Evil: Code Veronica starts the song off for about 15 seconds before a quick moment of silence. A quick paced distorted bass line follows with a complementary drumbeat that had that industrial vibe to it. Troy comes in after 43 seconds and sings in a slow, echoing, and high pitched voice. The instrumental prechorus consists of the same instruments from the verse but adds a funky guitar riff to give more edge, this part ends where the synthesizers come in. From the heavy sound of the verse, the song shifts into a lighter, more “heavenly” sound in the chorus. This complements Troy’s more uplifting lyrics that talk about courage, his singing also changes from the creepy and mysterious echoing to a much fuller, almost operatic style. The chorus is mainly composed of a simple piano arpeggio, some synthesizers, a choir, and a slower and atmospheric drum beat, the chorus ends once Troy’s last line “away” echoes. This pattern repeats itself for another time and surprisingly, there is no middle eight for the song. The song’s outro just follows the melody and rhythm of the chorus with Troy’s chorus echoing complementing the string arrangement and angelic voices of the choir.

Lyrics:

Verse:

In the dark,
ghouls and evil still await for you
in the dark
you can feel it breathing near you
reaching out
reaching out to all the weak and lost
but even if you shout
nothing makes much sense at all

Chorus:
I don’t even know why
I’ve been running far away
So far away, away
I don’t even know why
I’ve been running far away
So far away

Verse:
In the dark
there is no one to count on
in the dark
all the candles die without a cause
far away
from anything and everything you are
don’t go away
if you want to know the truth

Chorus:
I don’t even know why
I’ve been running far away
So far away, away
I don’t even know why
I’ve been running far away

Outro:
And I don’t believe in all the lies (I don’t even know why)
I used to believe and I don’t know why (I’ve been running far away)
But I have learned the hardest way (So far away)
locked up in pain (away)
And all the fear, and all the hate (I don’t even know why)
I lost it all with a twist of fate (I’ve been running far away)
I’m stronger than what you’ve been told
I’m greater than what you know (So far away)

---

A Great Morning for Mourning (B-Side) (2:41)

Background:
The acoustic ballad was supposed to be part of the album, but Troy found the song unfitting so he planned on making it the b-side to whatever would be the lead single. The song's title might confuse you and cause some misunderstanding, but it should not be taken literally. Looking at the title, one might say that it's about someone who gets happy when told that someone has died, but it doesn't really mean that. Troy wrote the song to show his disgust against a particular event that had happened this year. People were celebrating the death of someone as if it were a holiday. Troy has great respect for all humanity and according to him,

"No matter what someone has done wrong, it's just not right to celebrate something so tragic, it's really sickening to see people sink this low in morality. We all need to have and to give respect, that's all I want to tell with the song"

The song features an acoustic guitar, a double bass, a basic drumkit, and lots of looping.

Song Progression:
"Ooooh", Troy sings in falsetto as he begins to play a John Mayer inspired riff. The double bass and drums follow after as Troy sings a few more notes. The song is fairly simple when it comes to the music but it has no chorus, though it does sound like it has one. The echoing "Oooh from the intro reenters as the first verse ends. The second verse is more emotional than the first as the first verse is looped around along with the intro. The third verse raises the bar as Troy's vocals soar very high and the bluesy sound of the song is much more emphasized, Troy belts out a smooth and crack-free falsetto ad lib in the end. According to Troy, "The song's simplicity and atmosphere is what captures the listeners."

Lyrics:
Oh how delightful, the rain is falling over the rooftops
but the parade is marching on, with their flags and lighters
oh the joy, the joy of one's demise
a great morning has come but I feel too wrong to come along
How great, everyone has come
celebrate good times with some coke and some rhum
oh the land is fed another man whose time has come
oh the land, does it know what it wants

You don't know what it feels like
you don't know what it feels like
You don't know, you don't know
You judge him by his looks, you judge him by his faults
but take away the difference, you'll see there's no difference at all

The morning's supposed to wash away the pain
but the morning, Oh the morning is wrapped up with the insane
and the night, the night, it's better to be alone
than to be with all the vicious, all those with a heart of stone