From story to sound: the journey behind Innocent Games

A few years ago, I wrote a story, hoping that I might one day get to publish it. I went as far as completing the first draft.

As time passed, though, I became more interested in composing music and began to think of the story as the inspiration that would define it.

Its setting and theme influenced the choice of instruments and the album’s gentle, harmonious atmosphere. The music is mostly instrumental, with non-lexical voices representing the characters, and traditional Tibetan influences evoking the landscape and the spiritual purpose of their journey.

Innocent Games is an hour-long musical journey unfolding across Tibet during summer.

At its centre are two young travellers from different parts of the world. They meet by chance while far from home and begin travelling together. What starts as simple companionship gradually becomes something more difficult to define.

Tomáš, a young man from Brno in the Czech Republic, came to Tibet in search of spiritual meaning. Already interested in Buddhism, he was drawn to its traditions, remote landscapes and monasteries, hoping the journey might help him see his life differently.

Maeve came from Cork in Ireland. After dropping out of university and uncertain where her life was heading, she embarked on an impulsive journey with Clara, an old school friend.

During their first few days in Lhasa, while acclimatising to the altitude and visiting local landmarks with a small group, Clara became unwell. When she suddenly collapsed, Tomáš came to her assistance. The incident brought the three travellers together, and a casual friendship quickly formed between them.

By the following day, Clara’s condition had not improved, forcing her to cancel the trip and return home. Maeve hated the thought of leaving Tibet so soon, but continuing without her friend left her uncertain about what to do.

Tomáš was planning to undertake the Ganden-to-Samye trek with other members of the group: a demanding five-day journey through high mountain passes and remote valleys. After some hesitation, Maeve decided to join them.

As she and Tomáš spent time together, a quiet affection developed between them. It could be felt in their conversations, in the places they discovered and in the silences they shared. Their friendship seemed capable of becoming something more, but neither of them quite crossed that boundary.

The title Innocent Games refers to the playful, sometimes ambiguous exchanges that develop between them as they travel together: the private jokes, moments of attention and unspoken testing of what their friendship might become. Neither is deliberately leading the other on. Their “games” arise from genuine affection, yet never carry them beyond the uncertain space between friendship and love.

This is the emotional conflict at the heart of the album. Tomáš finds himself drawn towards two different forms of fulfilment: the spiritual awakening that brought him to Tibet and the possibility of loving Maeve.

One draws him inward, towards solitude and meditation. The other draws him towards closeness and a shared life. Neither feeling is presented as less meaningful than the other, and neither ever completely eclipses the other.

This is why the music continually moves between two poles. At times, Tibetan-inspired sounds and meditative passages carry the journey into a more spiritual space. At others, warm melodic themes bring the relationship between the two travellers to the foreground.

The album does not tell its story through lyrics. Instead, its changing moods suggest different moments along the way: their meeting, their growing closeness, moments of happiness and uncertainty, and the gradual realisation that their time together cannot last forever.

Eventually, the journey ends. Maeve and Tomáš part and return separately to their former lives. Nothing dramatic has happened between them, yet neither leaves unchanged. What remains is the lingering memory of a connection that was never fully realised.

Innocent Games is about that brief space between friendship and love, and about the different paths we imagine our lives might take before circumstances quietly decide for us.

Musically, I would describe it as a cinematic ambient composition, both relaxing and reflective, built around gentle, slow-paced melodies. It blends voices and synthesisers with piano, harp, percussion and traditional Tibetan instruments.

If you would like to experience it for yourself, you can listen to Innocent Games here.