By Malcolm Brown
To dust off a terribly stale, overused cliché, this song is a tour de force. It’s one of my top five favorites throughout the entire catalog.
The quality of the music is superb. Piano and xylophone kick it off, and if you turn it up loud, you can hear the dull, thudding, secondary impact of the piano key (or possibly the hammer against the piano string). It’s akin to hearing the valves opening and closing on a clarinet or a saxophone during a particularly quiet solo. If that’s sampled, there’s no way to tell: it is perfection.
This is the first song in the Homestuck library that I went and sought out. I blasted through the first several acts in two weeks or less when I first read the comic. I watched the Flashes in order, but the sound attached to them didn’t really stick until this song popped up. This is the track that forced me to take pause, to recognize that there’s something special about the soundtrack for this web comic.
I looked it up on YouTube to listen to it, to replay parts of it. I found myself asking questions about it. What was that familiar melody in the middle, when Lord English was rainbow-fricasseeing all of the ghosts? (it was Revelawesome). Haven’t I heard that haunting piano tune at the end of the Flash before? (Penumbra Phantasm strikes again).
It led me to look backwards at earlier music: there was more value here than I initially gave it credit. I listened to music, bought albums, and now here I am, writer of a snarky blog all about the music. All catalyzed by this one track.
By Michael Guy Bowman
It’s a journey into an unbalanced yet determined mind, with wobbly melody driven forward by one of the more complex and interesting percussion lines on the album. Guess that Constant Confinement might have shaken a few marbles loose. Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage (from one of the greatest albums of all time) give off a similar unhinged vibe.
By Thomas “EidolonOrpheus” Ferkol
Where The Lordling is a crazy ball of energy (complete with sound effects contributed by Caliborn’s Casio, no doubt), this one’s more introspective. Graceful and flowing.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
Makes me think of daybreak, of new beginnings. Like a muted, simplified Ranz des Vaches.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
The transition from The Prelude is ultra smooth, to the point that this may as well be a continuation. There’s no well-defined time, no well-defined measure: it feels professional yet improvised. It’s a style that’s consistent throughout the album.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
Slow and deliberate on the bass side of the keys, and flighty on the treble side. The rather forceful rendition of Sburban Jungle near the end is a new, unique twist on the motif.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
Such a simple intro, yet it evokes a melancholic mood as well as anything I’ve heard. My top track for the album.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
Starts off with a chaotic glissando. I can’t decide whether it has the hallmarks and control of a professional, or if it’s better described as the ham-fisted smashings of a five-year-old. Either way, the melody that follows is austere and catchy.
Composed by Tyler Dever. Performed by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
I didn’t really dig Candles and Clockwork on Volume 5: it just felt forced with the synthy choir. But underneath all of that it has a pretty cool melody, and this track’s intro showcases it well. There’s a little more improvization in the second half, and it’s one of the tracks I come back to once in a while on this album.
Arranged by Clark “Plazmataz” Powell. Original “Sarabande” by Erik “Jit” Scheele.
The original version of Sarabande is one of my all-time favorites (my opinion of it has only improved over time). Some remixes change a song completely, or overpower it with counter-melodies or instrumentation changeups. This isn’t a remix of the original track: it’s a love letter to it. A fantastic job, and my top track for the album.
By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell
A symphonic treatment for Serenade from Volume 8, also written by Plazmataz. This one feels a little more like a tune-up: the brief, plucked strings and harp melody give it a new dimension. A soaring, piano-led except from Ruins ends the piece on a strong note.
By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell
With that rising, funky violin intro, it makes a perfect accompaniment for the discovery of a new world. The song rolls in waves. At times it’s improvisational and muted, only to be followed later by another crescendo.
… wow, I did really describe a violin-driven introduction as ‘funky’. I’ve got no better words, so there it is.
By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell
Image source: Homestuck.
The main rhythm sounds like it’s played by inevitable grinding gears, or maybe an elevator making its way down to an unfathomable horror. The violin melody brings with it a bit of an Eastern vibe.
By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell
Starts off with a light melody, yet surrounded by impending danger. The artificial sonic beat in the middle is cool, but my favorite part’s the outtro. With that unsettling, ultra-low synth growl behind the bouncy piano melody, the final two minutes is a dead ringer for a song that John could have played to wake up his denizen.
By Clark “Plazmataz” Powell
The thin, reedy soprano synth melody gives it a new-age feel, but sort of in distress, what with the malicious percussion in the back. I had to replay it a couple of times to catch the Westminster Chimes in the middle around 3:10: the melody is there, but the key’s so different from the rest of the song, it almost hides in plain sight.
By Jeremy “Solatrus” Iamurri and Nick Smalley
A mashup of Carol of the Bells (the familiar arrangement is surprisingly modern, written in the first half of the 20th century by Mykola Leontovych) and Frost. With a little bit of shoehorning, the bells and the xylophone fit together well, and the simplicity of that horn solo in the middle fits both songs well.
By Robert J! Lake. Based on “Candles and Merry Gentlemen” by Tyler Dever
One of the more musically interesting tunes on the album. It’s a great version of Candles and Clockwork, and the vocals… well… it’s bizarre and ethereal. RJ has a unique sound that shows up in other songs, and I don’t know how else to describe it. Except that I like it.