Ancient Manager is the myth of the Flying Dutchman set in the modern corporate world.

Listen to it here.

In my verision, the Ancient Manager is struggling between corporate forces of customer demands, legal requirements, employee worries and top management pressure, but manages to turn the tide and bring the company back to green with the help of the other Ancient Managers.

So, his big realization is that he’s not alone.

Like we are not.

So, my first idea, as I briefed my producer, was that “Ancient Manager” must be MASSIVE.

I wanted the listener to feel the height of the 20 meter waves as the “business ship” of the Ancient Manager plunges into the dangerous corporate waters only to rise up to the skies to meet the next challenge.

As it soon turned out, the song had other plans for us.

Let me explain.

We’re trusting the process with my producer, as the saying goes.

This means that we want to do what’s best for the song. If that happens to be something else than what we ourselves had been thinking, then it’s us who need to change the course.

That’s what happened with “Ancient Manager”.

It was mainly me who wanted to force the danger element on the song. I wanted it to sound like a small man’s fight against the elements of nature.

But soon I realised this is actually a hero song, not horror.

A “hero song” to me is like an anthem. There’s a heroic, bright melody that soars. A big open space.

That’s what “Ancient Manager” wanted to be so that’s where we took it, and that’s what you’re hearing today.

Philosophically “Ancient Manager”, is about transformation from struggle to success and in that sense links to the theme of dualism of the “Player Characters” album.

It’s also an allegory of a human’s inner journey from a child to an adult.

Additionally, in my version, it’s also the reinterpretation of the myth of the Flying Dutchman.

(And those of you who know, can find references to the movie Blade Runner, Richard Wagner’s opera by the same name as well as modern corporate life.)

What comes to the cover art: there are two versions of it: one where the whole chessboard is black and another where it’s all white.

This refers to what the Ancient Manager feels just before the steps out of the “Tower of Steel” i.e. his office in the skyscraper. He does this while having opposite feelings: to fight or flight?

The white and black chess boards also hint at either an ascent from one’s subconscious to self-realization or a descent into it.

But what’s going on in the picture? He’s playing against a child!

Yes, the child represents the next generation. She’s the apprentice, a future Ancient Manager, but also the Ancient Manager’s inner child.

Ancient Manager and the child playing on a uniform board suggests that the game (of life?) is in fact level, heading towards a draw. Ancient Manager cannot beat the child. They are both equal. And indeed, we do not have to beat our inner child, quite the contrary. We need to nurture and cherish it so that there is continuation of our species, but also our own mental health.

Having come this far the child is now equal to the Ancient Manager and ready to make a deal with God or the Devil. But: will she use her powers for good or for evil? And before that: will she have the courage to get past the plain white (or black) chessboard that’s life?

This is what they both are thinking, because darkness is ambiguous, as it is both protective and threatening. But light is equally ambiguous as it reveals everything, the good and the bad.

So the board is asking us: are we ready to be seen as we truly are?

Finally, my fellow corporate managers, this song is for you.

I see you.

I hear you.

And I know you can do it, whatever it is that you need to do.

Want more?

You can read the “Ancient Manager” lyrics here, sing along to the song with the lyrics video and read the Journey article, the fictional story of how Poliphilos found the idea for the song.