|
Review
05_036 - 08/07/08
Midilan Music Track Review Looking Back
Genre Electronica: Ambient.
Summary Opinion
Well what do you know, one of the first submissions of the
kind of music I love. Not that I am closed to the whole world of music and its
variety. However, we all need that place to go to that is our natural home in a
way that is even beyond thought … in the blood so to speak.
I could totally pour honey on this review if it was not
for one strange point I will deal with in the production section. But aside
from that, if you are looking for peace or a chillout (seems the more modern
acceptable form identity), Midilan is here to take you to the edge of nirvana
in that pursuit.
Truly beautiful music with a superb lightness that is the
sign of one who knows when too much of a good thing is too much. This
illustrates a great ear for the simple patterns of melody that give the
illusion of a natural occurrence in the order of things. And again, there is a
reserve that realizes that sometimes you just need the hint of a voice or an
instrument to suggest the detail that the mind or soul will fill in.
I really don’t understand why many others here have almost
an aversion to this kind of music. I have often heard elevator music mentioned
in the same breath as Brian Eno’s Airport music which is very much akin to
placing Weird Al Yankovic and Frank Zappa in the same genre.
I particularly loved this piece and another I listened to:
Bolton
Abbey
Quite naturally this is placed in the genre
Electronica/Ambient, but that is a hard place here at SoundClick where it gets
merged in with some more beat oriented music. New Age might be a suggestion,
but that seems to be directed toward a mixture of Philosophy and World music
sound.
Ah well this is all quite lovely. Your audience is roaming
around SoundClick and eventually they will find you to their great and joyous
surprise
Production
The only problem I have with production in ‘Looking Back’
and ‘Bolton Abbey’ are the endings. The very end of Bolton Abbey has a sound
that is not characteristic of the entire piece. With ‘Looking Back’, the very
end does not fade or naturally conclude, it just seems to drop off a cliff.
It’s kind of funny, I kept replaying ‘Looking Back’ just
to hear what goes on at the end. Many times I got so caught up in the music, I
forgot what I was listening for and got that jolt at the end to remind me. I’m
not sure if this is intentional or the file is truncated in some way, but it is
a bit disturbing. There is even a bit of a clip sound at the end to suggest the
file was cut.
But if we just put that aside, we have a great production.
Using a reverb and a delay, but everything is so perfectly matched it does not
feel like anything is over done.
A nice balance of quality instruments and sounds. The
string pads and vocal pads are so light, they are just perfect. There is a
sense of space, which the reverb adds, but sounds are placed well across the
stereo landscape.
Music
The music is lovely with a simple yet poignant chord
progression that repeats throughout.
The background is a mixture of piano, an arp sound
maintaining a rhythm, some light vocal and later synth strings. On top is the
bell like piano line that has just a wonderful verbed sound.
For variation a wind sound comes in at the mid point that
varies between the sounds of Bassoon, Sax and English Horn/Oboe.
A moving combination that is peaceful and profound at the
same time. As facile as it seems, this effect is hard to accomplish. There is
repetition that maintains the relaxed mood, but subtle variation maintains
interest without any jarring changes.
For people who are really sensitive to this form, a wonderful
execution (as in this piece) can move them eventually into an altered state of
consciousness. This is not the new age idea of an altered state, but really the
state where you don’t have to think of anything else in your life, but what you
are hearing. I don’t think I know anyone who could not use this kind of
transformation.
Thanks Midilan.
_________________
Larry Ludwick
|
