The first part of this song is a bit of music I like quite a lot; the second part not so much. I think the whole piece works best listened to as a whole rather than only one part or the other as it’s a bit of a journey.
I wrote this over one listen and I stuck mostly to trying to capture what the sounds were doing. I don’t think it quite worked but I feel I captured a sense of the song quite well.
As a side note, I find myself wondering if this song was in part influenced by The Night Land or something similar.
Final’s “Light Underground/Dark Overground” is from One.
I hope you enjoy.
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Flickering sound in a distance in a space that soon fills with a harsh droning that seems to lack aggression. It seems to rise, or at list something within it rises and whirs as it bubbles away. The flickering appears around it as brief moments and then the droning is stripped down to something bare, or at least less layered.
The droning fills in and out and holds its prominence and becomes more like a buzz or a hum, and it peels back and reveals more metallic bone, then fills in and a new flickering comes in for a moment. It remains harsh and it still seems to lack aggression and it is a form that is as changing as it is static. It reveals itself as it moves through tunnels in which only it fits and the flickering echoes at a distance.
The droning shares an oscillation with a static and they move in and out for a short period, gradually revealing more and less and more, and various sounds loop as they spin. Soon something reveals itself among all of the noise, and it is different, and perhaps this is what the droning was trying to reach. Maybe this new sound was looking for the droning, and it is soft and it grows and the droning is unable to smother it, despite seeming attempts.
More layers of this new come forward and take space and hold focus and there is something dire in it, but it also seems hopeful. It seems melancholic and at peace, and it is slow and steady and the beeping in the background stays around but, despite the clash in sound there remains no harshness.
More layers peel away and grow quiet, and there is something that could be the guitar that echoes through the space. The droning comes back and pulls away but the new sound remains, following its steps and creating a bit of space in this dimly lit moment. It sinks and descends as it expands; it holds onto itself and breathes with calm.
Something gradually creeps in, altering the atmosphere, though maybe it isn’t and just revealing a different perspective on what already has come. An idea of a voice echoes loudly through and disappears, and low bass surfaces with a slow ascent, then also pulls back. The reshaping has now taken over completely and this new form seems sadder and perhaps more lacking in hope. The droning bubbles up once more and encloses the new form, but it also pulls back; it continues its movement back and forth and shifts its form, and that loud idea of a voice echoes once more.
The new form seems to start pulling itself apart, or at least moving in a slowly rapid manner. There is a panic and anxiety, and a lowering despair and it is lonesome among an audience. For a moment it is given space and full focus before the idea of the voice echoes once more with a subtle beat underneath.
A brief moment of a scrape underneath before a new drone appears and fades, and the idea of the voice echoes once more and clears all. In this emptiness something harsh drags itself across an indistinct surface and slides away. The wailing of the new form appears and disappears. Possibly keys appear and form a baseline as something drags against the wind, only revealing itself in brief, yet distinct moments.
There’s unease as this minimalisim follows on from what came before. Percussion creates a grounding point but there is little comfort and all presses inward and seems to take the air out of the space. All presses in but it does not crush and so uncertainty remains strong. Sounds mostly indicate an idea of what is happening but, whilst all is distinct, little is clear.
The sound continues pressing in and suggesting and soon it enters the centre with a muffled harshness. It is as though concentrated wisps of light are peering in but cannot completely reach, and yet they keep trying and in a way it is threatening.
Pressing against and into the space like waves, and the keys seem to slowly move and take direction whilst something howls and pierces whilst fading away, but perhaps things are now lifting. Perhaps it is a trick of the mind, but things seem to be lifting as something surges toward the space. It does not clear much, however. It lurks and something else whoops in the distance and some new percussion appears. However, it all suddenly stops, though relief takes a little while longer to arrive. Silence takes hold and the song ends.