Marvelous Thing
The idea for this song came from a conversation with some of my jiu-jitsu friends after class. We were talking about each other’s ages and what it was like getting older. One of my friends said I looked like I was in my 20s — I’m in my mid-30s. So naturally, I felt flattered…I pointed to the bags under my eyes and the crow’s feet as proof of years lived.
I built the track around a birthday party concept. There’s a background layer of party atmosphere underneath — just people talking. I wanted it to be a track about aging gracefully, and part of that is about mindset.
I’m a meditator and I love Buddhist philosophy. There’s this idea of being the whole thing — you have this small ego identity attached to your body, but when you zoom out, your body is actually much larger and includes your environment. Your body is really the whole planet. Zoom out even more and you are the whole universe unfolding. From that perspective, death isn’t scary anymore because you realize you can’t die. You just flow into the next form.
What worked
After “So Tired,” some curators called it experimental. I like experimental music, so that’s not a bad thing — but I wanted to test my hook-writing ability. What I’m making here are singles, not album tracks. They need an earworm. So I tried to make the hook memorable. What I’m trying to do is capture a feeling in a bottle. Refining emotion into a listenable piece of art. The holy grail is to get the listener to feel something.
Some experiments pushed my production skills forward. The high-pitched backing vocals — in this case “whole universe” — just sound really good pitched up. I’m a big fan of using the pitch knob in Ableton on audio tracks.
This song is much different than “So Tired.” Instead of anxious energy, this is more like a good feeling vibe. Warmer. Slower at 122 BPM.
What didn’t work
The first version I made on January 11, 2026 had this talking verse. I turned the formant down on OVox plugin (vocal synthesizer) and it had this Barry White gravelly talking sound. I had to leave it for a month while launching my text-to-speech app Reazy. When I came back to it, I rewrote the first verse as a singing verse. I was much happier with the result.
While starting Neon Buffalo, I planned to use a Steve Lacy production philosophy — make lots of tracks to discover the gems. Capture tracks quickly and lock them down so you can’t endlessly tweak. As I’ve continued, I found my preferred workflow is different. I tend to spend more time in the planning phase. My approach now is more about collecting lyrical starts, ranking them, choosing the best ones, planning the song structure and vibe, and staying happy with it while I develop it. If it isn’t working, I just drop it before wasting time polishing. The first demo of a track is usually 80% of the way to a solid release. I try to fully develop the lyrics that rose to the top, so I don’t waste a good idea.
As I’ve aged, I’ve noticed having less energy to execute projects, but I still have all the ideas. So I’m all about managing the energy I do have and making sure music stays one of my priorities.
I hope you like the track. I feel proud of this one.
The song says it: “You are the whole universe.”
Thanks for listening.
🩷 Ben
Coming to streaming March 27, 2026
[Marvelous Thing lyrics]
happy birthday Steph
just because you’re getting older
new lines around your smile
your beauty is not on trial
marvelous thing
marvelous thing
marvelous thingmarvelous thing you, you, you
marvelous thing you, you, youwhen you feel invisible
when you feel unloved
you are the (whole universe)marvelous thing you, you, you
marvelous thing you, you, you