tethermind shares new single “Holding On”

Based in Heber City in Utah, tethermind is the solo project of composer, pianist and producer Luke Despain, an artist whose work has always been concerned with the emotional possibilities of music. Alongside his work composing for film, creating soundtracks and producing music for other artists, Luke has developed tethermind as a more personal outlet, creating dark, cinematic pop for any listeners who’ve ever found themselves staring at the ceiling with too much on their mind. Influenced by ODESZA, Catching Flies and Jóhann Jóhannsson, the project views songwriting as an attempt to create a soundtrack for the moments that are often too difficult to put into words.

The name tethermind reflects that philosophy, with tethermind representing the connection between worlds, the unseen thing that keeps the mind attached. That thread is music offering a conscious decision to remain connected to the present as opposed to disappearing into the noise surrounding it. There’s another meaning too, based in the connection created when two minds come together and produce something that neither could have made alone. It’s an idea that feels particularly fitting for an artist whose career has already been built around collaboration, composition and emotional exploration.

While Luke works professionally with other artists, helping them discover and record their sound, he’s also written original scores for films, created custom music for brands and built a substantial catalogue available for licensing. tethermind offers a different perspective on that experience, placing his own emotional world at the centre of the music. The project properly launched this year, with debut single “Noize” with “Echo Bliss” following, reaching a somewhat different audience, before “Holding On” arrives as perhaps the most personal statement of the project thus far.

Written, produced, mixed and mastered entirely by Luke, “Holding On” took shape incredibly quickly, with the track coming together across just a handful of nights and by the night he completed it, he already knew the song was ready, immediately scheduling its release. Thematically, “Holding On” is concerned with the impossibility of stopping time; its inspiration came from Luke’s baby son and the desire to preserve the brief moments of his childhood while they’re still happening. There’s an inherent contradiction in that feeling that the more precious a moment becomes, the more aware we are that it cannot last.

tethermind captures that emotional tension without needing to overcomplicate it, turning a profoundly personal experience into something widely relatable. The track also contains another form of memory, where Luke had hours of recordings made by a close friend before his death, including fragments of everyday life that he’d long hoped to incorporate into his music. While listening through those recordings, he discovered a moment of his friend sitting in a car with someone special, saying something that carried a quiet sense of nostalgia and that voice eventually found its way into “Holding On.”

Flowing with fluttering key tones, the bubble of vocal samples and stretch of elegant strings forms a dreamy soundscape that glides with lilting rhythmic sway as the rustle of pattering percussion enters. Casting a mesmeric soundscape brimming with soothing melodies and laid back groove, “Holding On” develops with pulsing synths and snapping beats to serve up an immersive listening experience from start to finish.

Commenting on the release, tethermind shares, “With Holding On, I wanted to capture that feeling of trying to hold onto a fleeting moment and all you can really do is sink deeper into the present. That idea shaped a lot of the song itself, the chord progressions, the cyclical arrangement that keeps evolving, like a loop with moments of realization and depth built in.”

Listen to Holding On below

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