In an interview with DIY Magazine Ambrose describes Stu’s collaborative writing prompt for “Theia”: “Theia is a hypothesised planet that once had a binary orbit with Planet Earth. Eventually, Theia crashed into Earth, breaking a huge chunk off which coalesced into and became the moon.” The timing to make a song about this planet couldn’t have been better as only a week after The Silver Cord’s release, scientists found potential remnants of the planet. The name comes from the Greek goddess Theia, who was one of the twelve titans — children of Uranus and Gaia (previously referenced on Omnium Gatherum). Theia is the god of vision and light with a name that translates to “goddess.” While the song “Theia” is a bubbly synth-pop look at the planet’s fate with Earth, the name brings up the imagery of mythology found throughout The Silver Cord.
“Theia” was first released on October 3rd, 2023 as part of a triple single alongside “The Silver Cord”, and “Set”, as the standard mixes with music videos from Jason Galea. Theia’s segment of the video shows the band singing the song in a forest with a pink color filter and various datamoshing transitions, while wearing the Radio Eyewear ‘Gator Vision’ sunglasses. While the location isn’t known, it was presumably shot in France based on the other filming locations.
As with every tracklisted song on The Silver Cord, “Theia” has two versions: a standard and an extended mix. The standard mix comes in at under four minutes, while the extended mix lasts over 20 minutes, making it the band’s longest studio track at the time of release. It also features new lyrics, including a verse taken from the album’s title track. Stu said of the different cuts, “the first version’s really condensed, trimming all the fat. And on the second version, that first song, ‘Theia,’ is twenty minutes long. It’s the ‘everything’ version…” “Theia” corresponds to “Motor Spirit” from sister-album PetroDragonic Apocalypse, using a riff taken from the opening as its main bassline. It was released as the first song on The Silver Cord on October 27th, 2023.
“Theia” was teased a few times following the release of The Silver Cord such as on 2023-06-13 during “Hot Water” and on 2024-05-22 during “Mr. Beat.” It wouldn’t make its live debut until “Drag Night” at The Great Theater in Lyon on 2024-06-03. This performance is similar to the extended version with the “Motor Spirit” chant but is shorter and has its own unique attributes, including a new intro.