Simoun OST Review/Analysis: Part 7
CD 2, tracks 9-15
09 - Ginen
Obviously a track for sneaking around investigating stuff. You'd think that's about it, but it gets hilariously jazz-funky halfway through, with the Fender Rhodes keyboard sound winding around the bass counterpoint. This soundtrack is so eclectic sometimes.
10 - Hashire!!
SPEAKING OF ECLECTIc. I really unironically adore this track. Ginen takes a little too long to get to the good stuff. This track is like superstimulus in comparison. In the show, it was used to depict conflict between the girls, but WHO CARES ABOUT THAT. This track fucks without any context. It's really all about that bass.
11 - Daiseidou
This organ synth, uh, is kind of in the uncanny valley. I like the obvious 16-bit nature of Final Fantasy 6's Dancing Mad, and of course I love hearing the real deal, but this is in the unhappy middle. It sounds like a real organ where the player doesn't know how to sustain quite right.
Ignoring that part, though, it's fine as a composition. It would be nice to here this played by a pro. Sahashi clearly knows how to compose for the instrument.
12 - Yuukei no Kumo
Hah! "Well, how can we make Utusukushiki Miko no Namida EVEN MORE FORLORN? How about stripping it down even further to just piano, solo violin, and bandoneon?"
13 - Yakusoku no Asa ni
What's that? The ending of Rekishi wa Kataru wasn't DRAMATIC and ROMANTIC enough? Say no more! Even MORE major key goodness, and not a sign of that downer A-melody anywhere! Man, I absolutely do not remember when the show ever used this track. They tended to use the original track for the big memorable moments, so I can't even think of when they would go with this variant instead.
It's so relentlessly happy that it feels like a Oshima Michiru track.
14 - Karei Naru Butou Shitsu
I noted that Rekishi wa Kataru evoked the waltzes of the late Romantic / early Contemporary era, especially those by Russian composers, with giving a bleak twist on the often-happy genre. This track, in contrast, represents the form as it primarily exists, albeit a chamber ensemble version. It also lacks the slight delay that fully traditional Viennese waltzes have. (Example)
In that it's just a textbook version of a happy waltz, this track therefore was used as diegetic music, and for scenes where the characters weren't feeling particularly emotional. In other ways, it also represents how sheltered the Sibyllae were, living in upper class comforts while those around them, both within their own nation and outside, could not afford the same. Therefore, while the composition is pleasant, it's also deliberately facile, and when the more mature characters return to ballroom dancing, the score used either Youen Naru or Rekishi wa Kataru as their backing tracks, instead, with stronger romance theme association.
15 - Simulacrum Miyakuni
This track evokes Kuuchuu Yousai, in departing from the orchestral norm to depict a more exotic setting. Feels like something that would score any number of JRPGs. Within the show, used to depict beliefs outside of what is normal society to the Sibyllae.
09 - Ginen
Obviously a track for sneaking around investigating stuff. You'd think that's about it, but it gets hilariously jazz-funky halfway through, with the Fender Rhodes keyboard sound winding around the bass counterpoint. This soundtrack is so eclectic sometimes.
10 - Hashire!!
SPEAKING OF ECLECTIc. I really unironically adore this track. Ginen takes a little too long to get to the good stuff. This track is like superstimulus in comparison. In the show, it was used to depict conflict between the girls, but WHO CARES ABOUT THAT. This track fucks without any context. It's really all about that bass.
11 - Daiseidou
This organ synth, uh, is kind of in the uncanny valley. I like the obvious 16-bit nature of Final Fantasy 6's Dancing Mad, and of course I love hearing the real deal, but this is in the unhappy middle. It sounds like a real organ where the player doesn't know how to sustain quite right.
Ignoring that part, though, it's fine as a composition. It would be nice to here this played by a pro. Sahashi clearly knows how to compose for the instrument.
12 - Yuukei no Kumo
Hah! "Well, how can we make Utusukushiki Miko no Namida EVEN MORE FORLORN? How about stripping it down even further to just piano, solo violin, and bandoneon?"
13 - Yakusoku no Asa ni
What's that? The ending of Rekishi wa Kataru wasn't DRAMATIC and ROMANTIC enough? Say no more! Even MORE major key goodness, and not a sign of that downer A-melody anywhere! Man, I absolutely do not remember when the show ever used this track. They tended to use the original track for the big memorable moments, so I can't even think of when they would go with this variant instead.
It's so relentlessly happy that it feels like a Oshima Michiru track.
14 - Karei Naru Butou Shitsu
I noted that Rekishi wa Kataru evoked the waltzes of the late Romantic / early Contemporary era, especially those by Russian composers, with giving a bleak twist on the often-happy genre. This track, in contrast, represents the form as it primarily exists, albeit a chamber ensemble version. It also lacks the slight delay that fully traditional Viennese waltzes have. (Example)
In that it's just a textbook version of a happy waltz, this track therefore was used as diegetic music, and for scenes where the characters weren't feeling particularly emotional. In other ways, it also represents how sheltered the Sibyllae were, living in upper class comforts while those around them, both within their own nation and outside, could not afford the same. Therefore, while the composition is pleasant, it's also deliberately facile, and when the more mature characters return to ballroom dancing, the score used either Youen Naru or Rekishi wa Kataru as their backing tracks, instead, with stronger romance theme association.
15 - Simulacrum Miyakuni
This track evokes Kuuchuu Yousai, in departing from the orchestral norm to depict a more exotic setting. Feels like something that would score any number of JRPGs. Within the show, used to depict beliefs outside of what is normal society to the Sibyllae.