Aksonance · August 15, 2026 · London

Aksonance releases Island / Otok today, a pop-soul ballad that carries a place inside it. The song was written after the project’s author spent a few days on the island of Ugljan, across the water from Zadar, and it is set in the small harbour village of Sutomišćica: moored boats with their sails furled, terracotta rooftops climbing the hillside, a bell tower among the cypresses, and the cicadas that fill every hour of the day.

The song holds the suspended time of an island holiday, the warm water, the bread and olives, the afternoon that never seems to end, and, underneath it, the awareness that it will end, that the city will call again. It is a summer song with a melancholy running through it.

Island / Otok comes in two versions. Island is the English original, a duet between a male and a female voice. Otok is sung in Croatian: not a literal translation but an adaptation written to be sung, keeping the same metre, the same stresses, the same melodic breath. It is offered as a gesture of respect toward the place that gave rise to the song.

Musically the track sits in a warm, airy pop-soul register: voice to the front, an arrangement that leaves room to breathe, a build that opens on the chorus. The reference points are contemporary British soul and analogue-leaning production, warmth chosen over density.

The single arrives while Aksonance is an Official Finalist at the ICMA — InterContinental Music Awards 2026, with The Breath of Silence, the concept album at the heart of the MARILYN100 project.

As with all Aksonance work, the release is transparent about its making. Music, voices and arrangements are generated with artificial intelligence tools; the lyrics come from human and AI collaboration; creative direction, selection and editing are human. Born from artificial intelligence, directed by human judgment.

Island / Otok is out now on all streaming platforms, distributed by Ditto Music.

One-Sheet (EN/HR)