The Album

Remember We Must Die is a cinematic ambient work by composer Lionel Cohen — a solemn traversal of mortality, stillness, and the weight carried in a single breath. Rooted in the tonal landscapes of East Asian musical tradition, each track unfolds like a brushstroke on wet paper: deliberate, irreversible, beautiful in its inevitability.

Temple bells toll at the edge of hearing. Erhu strings curve around silences that say more than sound. Woodwinds drift like mist over still water. This is music for those who listen with their whole body — music that does not hurry toward resolution.

Sound & Instrumentation

The Elements of Stillness

Instruments chosen not for their sound, but for their silence

Bells

Temple bowls & wind chimes — the voice of impermanence

Strings

Erhu, cello & bowed drones — sorrow in silk

Woodwinds

Dizi, shakuhachi & xiao — breath made longing

Percussion

Taiko & frame drums — the heartbeat beneath

Ambience

Textures & field recordings — space as instrument

24 Tracks  ·  56 Minutes

Complete Tracklisting

Total runtime: 56:01

  1. 01From Dust to Breath2:22
  2. 02Before the Water Settles2:23
  3. 03An Illusion Built for Two2:24
  4. 04Chasing Shadows Through Uncertainty2:15
  5. 05Toward the Mountain Within2:07
  6. 06Nothing Is Not Nothing2:02
  7. 07The Long Way Home Is the Only Way2:28
  8. 08One Breath Closer to Death3:17
  9. 09Questions Before the Answers2:38
  10. 10The Dreamer Who Never Awoke2:38
  11. 11The Sand Will Always Return2:31
  12. 12The Last Tree Standing1:55
  13. 13Familiarity of the Rising Sun2:14
  14. 14The Monk & the Mirror2:15
  15. 15Where the Light Often Pauses3:21
  16. 16Pilgrim of the Quiet Heart2:21
  17. 17A Faraway Echo of a Restless Land1:28
  18. 18Living Against the Edge1:55
  19. 19The Forest Dreams of Fire2:27
  20. 20Through a Thousand Lenses2:01
  21. 21Every Drop Returns to the Sea2:47
  22. 22A Body Made of Pain2:30
  23. 23When the Bell Stops Ringing1:56
  24. 24Returning to the Beginning2:33

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To remember we must die is not to dwell in fear — it is to finally begin listening.