By Elaine Wang (electronic orange juice/orngjce223). Original “Frost” by Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
I like the source (Frost), and I like the choice of instrumentation (mostly woodwinds and strings). But the heavy usage of long, drawn-out notes exposes the sampled nature of the instruments a little too audibly. Parts of the song falls into the uncanny valley of musical instruments: it sounds like a flute, or an oboe, but the perfect pitch and timing makes it feel… off.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
The Derse tracks tend to have good hooks, and this one’s no exception. Neat combination of violin and tech-noir synth backing in the beginning, and the energy and tension slowly builds into the second half, where the beatbox dominates.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
Best hook of the album. Where Darkened Streets featured the violin (Rose) and beatbox (Dave) in separate sections, this track effectively intermingles the two. Cool snippets of Endless Climb and Atomyk Ebonpyre (once again shining the spotlight on the first two Derse dreamers we meet) show up in the second half.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
It came this close to being a #cage pick just because the intro reminded me of this. But that whomping synth anthem in the second half lends it some gravity, so, even though it’s not as mind-numbingly catchy as Popcorn, a #haunting refrain it remains.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
Kicks off with a flourish and a fanfare. The bookends of this track are more of a march, but my favorite part is the bridge. The melody that starts at 1:50 and carries its way through flute, clarinet, and finally a crisp, clear-ringing trumpet.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri
Another rolling drumline intro, this time into a bit of freestyle piano. Once again, though, it’s the middle section that does it for me: a sparse, austere remix of Frost starts at 0:53 or so. Love that protracted horn solo.
I find myself liking these sorts of Frost remixes better than the version that was first issued on Volume 6. I think that in the original, those chiptune arpeggios diluted the power of its slow, tenor melody. I like that version but for different reasons, I guess.
RATING: 8 / 13 – ripping sonnets of STRONGNESS
A solo effort from Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri, and with a coherent (if bifurcated) theme to boot. The album’s broken into two distinct halves (representing the eponymous planets in the comic). There are four bright, triumphant tunes for Prospit, and four darker, more aggressive songs for the Derse dreamers.
I found the second half to be stronger than the first. Maybe it’s more due to personal taste than anything else, but the Derse tunes tend to have better hooks, while the Prospit ones are a little more old-fashioned and stodgy.