Everyone loves a comeback story. The return of a character you have emotional investment in is nothing short of exhilarating, a feeling that pumps dopamine directly into the receptors in my brain. It’s not a feeling isolated to fiction either, because witnessing the return of an artist after a long hiatus is no different. It may be hard to remember if you weren’t around at the time but there was a legitimate point in time where nobody really knew if we were ever going to hear the rest of the debut Colliding With Mars project past it’s already released singles, so when the time came around for the man’s triumphant return, there was certainly a level of excitement and investment in the whole thing.
2K Marin is a song I don’t see brought up in the conversation nearly often enough when Colliding With Mars is brought up, and it blows my mind a little bit considering the sheer level of production grandeur we’ve been left with. From the moments following its opening sample we’re engulfed in a wash of suspenseful, sorrowful strings. It’s a moment that acts as a monumental opener for the entire album, juxtaposed against vocal cuts and, for whatever reason, a sample of a TikTok woman at Arowan. Can’t quite explain that last part but no shade. The hook of this song is one large piece of discontent energy, pondering how name recognition and playlist placements don’t equal support, self worth, or decency from those around you. It’s a cold reality further backed up by the phenomenal verses delivered by the (now former) members of Belaganas. The duo paints a truly grim picture of fake people and isolation, all without skipping a beat on the rapid and tense energy the track maintains. From a production standpoint this beat is top tier from front to back, with a perfect balance of clip on the bass without compromising overall mix quality. That paired with effective but not overbearing drums and effects, and the prior mentioned S-tier string arrangement makes for something that feels somehow full of anger and despair, but also full of punch and energy.
In a conversation in his discord I once brought up my love of 2K Marin, and the man himself responded to that saying her “Grieved the loss of Belaganas every day since their split”, and it’s a sentiment easily understandable after hearing this track. This song is a masterclass in opening an album, because instead of just being another track this is a song that feels like art. Maybe that’s just my personal love of string arrangements in contemporary music talking, but I do genuinely feel like the way this song blends its world of sounds results in an end product unlike anything else. There’s a reason this song was on loop during the countless hours of me building the very first draft of the AuraLink site, and if I had to guess it’ll probably be in heavy rotation for whatever the next massive project is to.
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