One listen, though had to start again about a minute in.

I tried to just talk about what was going on and I think I did well enough there. Could’ve used fewer words. Maybe.

Kyojaku.’s (虚弱。) “The Philosopher’s Refutation” (“哲学者の論破“) is from The Solitary Stage (孤高の画壇). I’m not sure on the English song and album title; they’re what translating software told me they are, so hopefully they’re correct.

I hope you enjoy.

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From low noise comes a hum before everything bursts in. Striking and angular, making itself known, before shifting into something with a bit more space. That low noise seems to have been percussive; it repeats a few times before the guitar oscillates.

The percussion feels almost militant, or strident, and bass plays low and high where required. It gives space, it loosens; it gets busier, it tightens. Keys are playing a main pattern, or at least expanding on what is already there.

The sounds seem dry and doleful, or maybe not at all. Maybe they’re celebratory. There is a seriousness to this, however. A focus, and a build that isn’t readily apparent. Through sections of drama and determination, and celebration, rising and falling.

Guitar alone before everything returns and continues ever forward, steady and directed. Not so much asking question but rather reaffirming. Another moment of striking, similar to early on before letting loose a little and driving hard. A strike for a brief pause before charging onward once more.

Keys continue moving along with everything else, enhancing the rhythm, colouring the melody. But everything is working a part and everything congeals into a single sound of many parts.

There’s a lowering of the energy here, tightening and loosening, tightening and loosening before moving a bit more flowing once more. Flowing melodically, a slight release and back into it, in something that seems quieter, though no less dramatic.

Sounds fall away, leaving guitar to disappear in a hum at the song’s end.