Apenheart | 2027 Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship

Work Samples • Eric Robinson, Composer & Multi-Instrumentalist

The following five work samples represent my work as a composer, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, and performer, including selections from my debut album Realizer, live performance and visual storytelling, and works in progress from my second album, The Moonlit Dune. Please listen with headphones or high-quality speakers for for optimal sound quality.

Total designated review time: 10 minutes. Timestamps are provided with each sample to locate the selected passages.

01 | Not a Human Face

01 | Not a Human Face
Work: Music video and live performance of Not a Human Face, from Realizer (2024)
Date: Summer of 2026
Review excerpt: 2:40–5:30 (2 minutes, 50 seconds)
Medium: Music video, original composition, live musical performance
Artist: Eric Robinson / Apenheart
Cinematography assistance: R. Mastrogiovanni, Eugene, Oregon

This music video grew out of a live performance of Not a Human Face, a song from my debut Apenheart album, Realizer. I wanted to create something visually immersive that expressed the feelings of the song while also showing what it looks like to perform the music live.

The recording features my live arrangement using the Roland RC-505mkII looping system, alongside vocals, piano, and electronic instrumentation. It differs from the studio album version in its arrangement, tone, and musical character, allowing the composition to take on a different life in performance.

The video combines performance footage with imagery from Oregon’s oak savanna habitat, the landscape that originally inspired the song. It is a dreamlike exploration of solitude, nature, and spiritual growth. The lyrics in this part of the selection: “dreams in electric, the goal is ecstatic, caught the white rabbit long ago” and “when you’re moving out in slow motion, you will find us, you can find us” contribute to the sense of mystery and discovery I was trying to convey. I wanted the imagery to remain open to interpretation, much like the song itself.

I performed, recorded, edited, and produced the video, with cinematography assistance from Eugene-based videographer R. Mastrogiovanni. Creating this piece expanded my artistic practice beyond music alone and opened up new possibilities for combining composition, performance, and visual storytelling. It is a direction I intend to continue exploring through future Apenheart releases.

02 | Train

02 | Train
Work: Train, from the forthcoming album The Moonlit Dune
Date: 2026, work in progress
Review excerpt: 2:40–5:20 (2 minutes, 40 seconds)
Medium: Original composition and studio recording
Composer, arranger, performer, and producer: Eric Robinson / Apenheart

Train is a song from my upcoming second album, The Moonlit Dune, currently in production. This selection features a powerful, propulsive rhythm led by piano and illustrates my expanding use of strings, woodwinds, and other instrumental textures as I continue to develop Apenheart’s sound.

The song explores autonomy, overcoming regret, reconciliation, and the choice to move toward the future with a renewed sense of possibility. The music’s forward momentum reflects these themes, while the arrangement brings together the energy of a rhythm-driven composition with more expansive orchestration.

Lyrics from this passage include:

“A million years ago, dust it off dear, keep it open, round it again, destiny calls, you’re blushing oh dear, our eyes are wide open...”

I am excited to continue developing and polishing the songs on The Moonlit Dune. This album represents an important evolution in my songwriting, arrangement, and production, with greater emphasis on piano-centered compositions and the interaction of orchestral and electronic instruments.

Production note: This selection is from an album currently in progress and has not yet been professionally mastered. Its audio levels and overall finish may differ from the completed recordings on Realizer.

03 | Every Little Last Thing

03 | Every Little Last Thing
Work: Every Little Last Thing, from the forthcoming album The Moonlit Dune
Date: 2026, work in progress
Review excerpt: 2:02–4:37 (2 minutes, 35 seconds)
Medium: Original composition and studio recording
Composer, arranger, performer, and producer: Eric Robinson / Apenheart

Every Little Last Thing is another selection from my upcoming second album, The Moonlit Dune. Inspired by the Oregon coast, the song explores escapism, friendship, the beauty of the natural world, and a sense of wonder about our place in the universe.

The arrangement incorporates African drums, sitar, world percussion, and electronic synthesizer sounds, creating a different instrumental atmosphere from Train while remaining connected to Apenheart’s approach to melody, harmony, and layered composition.

The lyrics reflect a desire to step outside the complications of daily life and reconnect with the immediate experience of nature and the people around us. Passages from this excerpt include:

“The distant horizon is blue, and that’s the view that we came for...”

“You can feel it’s flesh and blood, you can feel on your skin the sun, you can see heaven above, you can hear the waves are enough...”

For me, this song expresses the sense of freedom, contentment, and perspective that can come from being near the ocean. Its combination of organic percussion, electronic textures, and poetic imagery represents another direction I am exploring as The Moonlit Dune develops.

Production note: This recording is still in progress and has not yet been mastered. Its audio levels and overall finish may differ from the completed recordings on Realizer.

04 | Quercus

04 | Quercus
Work: Quercus, from Realizer (2024)
Date: 2024, January
Review excerpt: 0:20–0:46 (26 seconds)
Medium: Instrumental composition and studio recording
Composer, arranger, performer, and producer: Eric Robinson / Apenheart

Quercus is a short instrumental interlude from my debut album, Realizer. I wanted to include this passage to illustrate how the album was conceived as a continuous sonic journey, intended to be experienced from beginning to end. Many of the songs transition directly into one another, with instrumental interludes helping connect the larger musical and emotional narrative.

This piece features my trumpet playing, layered harmonies, and experimentation with effects pedals and audio processing. I enjoyed exploring how the trumpet could move beyond its traditional sound, creating unexpected textures while retaining its expressive character.

Like Not a Human Face, this composition was inspired by Oregon’s oak savanna habitat. Its title comes from Quercus, the Latin name for oak, connecting the music to the landscape that helped inspire it.

05 | Zero Hour

05 | Zero Hour
Work: Zero Hour, from Realizer (2024)
Date: 2024, January
Review excerpt: 2:35–4:04 (1 minute, 29 seconds)
Medium: Instrumental composition and studio recording
Composer, arranger, performer, and producer: Eric Robinson / Apenheart

Zero Hour is the final track on my debut album, Realizer, and serves as the culmination of the album’s musical and emotional journey. The song explores themes of arrival, beauty, nature, and personal realization. Its lyrics are intentionally poetic and open to interpretation, allowing the song to take on different meanings for different listeners, or even for the same person at different times in their life.

Lyrics from this passage include:

“And when all the kicks are out (you’ll find it opens), and it’s the zero hour (here somehow), come on and join us, you’re the realizer now!”

This selection illustrates the prominent role of acoustic and electric guitars throughout Realizer, alongside layered instrumentation and rich vocal harmonies. The song builds toward a celebratory, almost fanfare-like climax, bringing the instruments together in a final expression of the album’s ethereal and dreamlike character.

The ending features three distinct acoustic guitar phrases overlapping to create what sounds like a single, interwoven musical voice. This was a deliberate compositional choice, bringing independent ideas together into a unified texture and giving the album a purposeful conclusion.

Work Sample Review Guide

Please use the designated timestamps below when reviewing each work sample. Full-length recordings and video are provided for context.