The Story Behind Water Codes: How the Ocean Inspired the Beginning of Elemental Codes
- Tabytha Polaris
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
There are songs you sit down and try to write.
And then there are songs that seem to arrive.
Water Codes was like that for me.
It became the first song I ever fully completed where I wrote both the words and the music myself. Looking back now, it also became the beginning of something much larger: my Elemental Codes EP and, in many ways, the creative world I continue building today.
At the time, though, I wasn't thinking about creating an elemental concept album.
I was simply going through a deeply emotional period in my life—and I kept finding myself drawn to water.
Seeking Water
During that time, I spent a lot of time at the beach on Long Island, especially Point Lookout.
I would walk to the left, away from the crowds, until I could be alone.
I didn't really want conversation. I wanted nature.
I wanted the ocean, the wind, the sound of the waves, and the feeling of standing somewhere that seemed bigger than whatever I was going through.
I was also spending time near lakes in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
Looking back, the simplest way I can describe that period is:
I was seeking water.
Nature has always helped me reconnect with myself, but water felt especially powerful during that time. When I was hurting, I imagined the ocean carrying some of that pain away. It helped me feel grounded and reminded me that even in difficult moments, I still had faith and there was still light somewhere inside me.
Floating in water or being fully immersed in it also does something profound to my mental state and to the way my physical body feels. It creates a sense of release, quiet and reset for me, and it is something I still return to today as a personal healing and self-care ritual.
That idea eventually became part of the emotional foundation of Water Codes.
From Beach Lyrics to a Melody at Home
The earliest lyrics began while I was spending time near the water.
Then, at home, another piece of the song appeared through an instrument that had only recently entered my life: the RAV Vast drum.
I had seen a video of a man playing one and was immediately fascinated by its sound. I ordered one directly from Russia the next day.
I didn't know at the time that the RAV Vast would eventually become the first instrument in what would grow into a much larger sound-healing instrument collection.
On September 5, 2019, I was in my home music room playing the RAV Vast when I began singing some of the lyrics I had been developing.
I recorded the idea on my iPhone.
That little home recording captured one of the earliest versions of the melody and lyrics that eventually became Water Codes.
The song came together surprisingly quickly.
It almost felt as though a muse—or some higher part of myself—was whispering it into my ear.
I wasn't forcing it.
I was listening.
The Meaning Behind Water Codes
The first part of the song came directly from my own experience.
It was about pain, release, healing and transformation.
There was a feeling of moving through what people sometimes describe as a dark night of the soul and toward another stage of awakening.
But underneath all of that was something I have always carried with me: faith.
Even during some of my darkest moments, I believed there was still something inside me capable of moving forward.
Water became a symbol for that process.
The ocean could not solve my problems for me, but being near it helped me become still enough to find my own strength again.
The second part of the song begins turning outward.
Instead of only expressing my own pain and release, I wanted to remind the listener that they also have light and power within themselves.
One lyric in particular was inspired by my Reiki Master, Laura Maglio. She used to say something that stayed with me:
Light transforms the lower.
That idea eventually became part of the lyric:
“Make room for the light and transmute the lower.”
To me, that line represents making space for something different—light, love, possibility, strength—rather than remaining trapped inside whatever is weighing you down.
The Miracle of Water and the Idea of Vibration
Another influence during this period was Masaru Emoto's book The Miracle of Water.
His work explored ideas about water, words, emotion, intention and vibration, accompanied by photographs of water crystals created under different conditions.
What fascinated me wasn't simply the images.
It was the question they created in my mind.
If our words, thoughts, emotions and energy can influence the environment around us, what does that mean about the relationship between human beings and water?
I began thinking about how much of the human body is made up of water and about the possibility of that relationship being reciprocal—not just what we bring to water, but what water brings back to us emotionally and symbolically.
I even framed an image of one of the water crystals associated with the word LOVE.
Whether someone approaches Emoto's ideas scientifically, spiritually or simply as artistic inspiration, for me they became another piece of the creative puzzle that was forming around the song.
I was thinking about words.
I was thinking about emotion.
I was thinking about vibration.
And I was thinking about the ocean.
All of those things eventually met inside Water Codes.
Creating the Sound of Water in the Studio
When I brought the song into Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York, the writing process moved into another stage.
I wasn't just recording a melody.
I wanted the production itself to represent water.
The harmonies became a huge part of that.
Harmony has always been one of my musical instincts. I grew up singing complex melodies, chants and harmonies in church choirs, and that experience shaped the way I naturally hear vocal arrangements.
For me, there can almost never be too many harmonies.
I recorded the main vocal first and then began layering the background parts.
Many of the harmonies were created spontaneously in the studio. I would hear the next part in my head and sing it, sometimes in only one or two takes.
The wordless “ooh” vocals in the introduction and throughout the song were especially intentional.
I wanted them to feel like waves.
Not literal ocean sounds, but the feeling of water moving—soft, powerful, repetitive, soothing and slightly mysterious.
The finished intro still puts me into a different state of mind.
It feels almost like opening a portal or a door into another world.
A Conversation Between the Vocals
Another part of the song I love is the call-and-response structure.
A single vocal line is answered by a group of harmonies.
At the time, I wasn't necessarily analyzing why I was writing it that way.
But looking back, it feels like a conversation.
One voice is experiencing something.
Other voices answer.
That dialogue became part of the emotional movement of the song.
My voice was never meant to function only as the lead singer delivering lyrics. The vocals themselves became part of the atmosphere and instrumentation.
That idea—using my voice as both an instrument and a storyteller—would become increasingly important in my work.
Experimenting With the Production
The studio process was collaborative.
I came in with strong ideas about what I wanted the song to feel like, but I was also open to what the people around me could bring to it.
Brendan Keenan was incredibly talented, kind and collaborative during the recording and mixing process. He helped shape elements of the guitar and drum production, while I continued developing the vocal world around the song.
One production technique I remember involved recording guitar material and then reversing it to create a less conventional texture.
Even the lower vocal sound changed during the final production process.
I had originally hired a male studio singer to create a lower octave underneath my vocals.
Later, during mastering, John at Cove City experimented with taking my own vocal layers and lowering them by an octave.
Suddenly, my voice created this almost choir-like lower sound.
I had to choose between the earlier version and the new version.
I chose the lowered version of my own vocals.
That sound became another part of the strange, dreamy atmosphere of the finished recording.
From Pain to Something Beautiful
When I listen to Water Codes now, I hear many different versions of myself inside it.
I hear the person walking alone along Point Lookout Beach.
I hear myself sitting in my home music room with a new RAV Vast drum, discovering a melody.
I hear the excitement of being in the recording studio and realizing that something I had created privately was becoming a real song.
And I hear the beginning of the artist I was becoming.
Water Codes is my first baby.
It was the first time I completed a song where the words and music were truly mine.
And it became the first step in a much larger creative process.
Bringing Water Codes to Life Visually
Once the song was finished, I wanted the artwork to feel like an extension of the music rather than something separate from it. I gave Lars Doerwald of LD Elements the song to listen to, shared photographs from a photo shoot, and asked him to create album covers and visual artwork inspired by what he heard and felt in the music.
I loved seeing someone else interpret the world of Water Codes visually. The blue tones, water imagery, light, symbolism and dreamlike atmosphere helped give the song a visual identity that matched the ethereal world I had been trying to create through the vocals and production.
That collaboration became another important part of the project for me—the music, imagery and symbolism all beginning to work together as one experience.
The Beginning of Elemental Codes
After Water Codes, something opened.
What began as one song about water eventually led me to think about the other elements.
Air.
Fire.
Earth.
Each one began developing its own sound, symbolism, story and emotional meaning.
That eventually became Elemental Codes, my four-song EP exploring Water, Air, Fire and Earth through music, personal experience, dreams, nature and visual symbolism.
But it all started with water.
One song.
One instrument.
One difficult period in my life.
One melody recorded on an iPhone.
And the ocean.
What I Hope You Feel When You Listen
My favorite parts of Water Codes are still the melody, the lyrics, the chorus, the harmonies and especially the introduction.
The song feels magical to me.
Calm.
Meditative.
Dreamy.
But also quietly powerful.
I tried to create more than a song.
I wanted to create an atmosphere—a mood and a journey shaped through tempo, vocals, instrumentation and sound.
Most of all, I hope someone listening can experience even a little of what water gave me during that chapter of my life:
a moment to release,
a moment to reconnect,
and a reminder that even during difficult times, there can still be light within us.
ELEMENTAL CODES EP
Released in 2022, Elemental Codes is a four-song concept EP exploring Water, Air, Fire and Earth through personal experiences, dreams, nature and symbolism. Each element shapes its own musical and visual world, blending ethereal layered vocals with organic and electronic instrumentation.
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