Spark of Life
By alonemusic on April 18, 2026 6:58 pm
This is a sad one. Read on only if you are ok with the sads.
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Ok? Here we go:
This week we said goodbye to our oldest cat, Aki, who was 17, who very suddenly took a turn on Monday, and we put him to rest on Thursday, at home with us.
We'd kind of suspected this year would be his last, but it still hit me like an absolute ton of bricks, and I've had a lump in my throat every day since.
I didn't think I'd be up for making a track, but after a day or so, it felt almost like the right thing to do. Weekly Beats is almost a diary for me in many ways, I often remember the sights, sounds, smells and feelings when listening back to older tracks.
In fact, Aki has featured underneath several of my tracks over the years, but damn I can't remember which ones, I'm sure I'll find one eventually. Anyway.. the track is short, and I tried to capture the sadness and joy in owning a brilliant animal, a true companion over the years, but also I really didn't want to overcook, or outstay its welcome, after all, when we say goodbye, we are paying tribute not just to the sadness in the moment, but the memory of all those great years of friendship.
It was already hard thinking of how to approach this, so I tried to just naturally build the piece. It's a pretty lo-fi mix, but I hope it hangs together.
Here is the art for the week (cat free, my partner and I looked and we'd taken over 1000 photos of him over the years and frankly, you can go to my instagram for many of those) I don't think I could do justice right now:
Thank you to the folk who reached out btw, or even reacted with an emoji, big heart to the WB community. Every pet owner really knows what it can be like. So I also dedicate this short little piece to y'all, I hope it matches for you too.
Finally! Here is the art from the 2016 track that featured Aki front and centre (Young Hopes for Old Dreams:
Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND)