About the review

Title: Window In The Sky (part 5)
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Artist: Louigi Verona
Genre: Electronica: Ambient
Reviewed by: Warrior Bob on June 26, 2008 (All reviews by Warrior Bob)

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1Overall Description
I must say I think this is just a fantastic piece of music. It fits pretty cleanly in its genre, so people who don't like this style may not like it, but I'd encourage them to try it out all the same. It's very well constructed, sounds great, and is a fitting finale to Louigi's "Window in the Sky" series.
 
2Creativity Description
Upon first listen, I was given to thinking that it was rather repetitive, but that impression quickly dissolved away after listening to the play between instruments. It's a fine line in this kind of music, because repetition is precisely what makes it work to a large extent. However, I thought the ending was somewhat unexciting. What I wanted was a transition into silence (since all linear recordings must end somewhere), but I felt that it just ended without any reason to. This is a minor thing and doesn't really hurt the overall impression of the piece, but is still noteworthy.
 
3Arrangement Description
True to genre form, this piece is like one long collection of transitions, and it is for that reason that I think it is successful. Every time a new instrument comes in, it feels new, even though some of the instruments (and indeed, the basic musical idea) remain unchanged throughout. There are several transition tricks present here, from adding in a drum beat or bassline up through the reverse-cymbal accent. All work very well. The mixing on the piece is quite solid in my opinion, and the stereo effects, of which there are many, are subtle and give the texture a lot of depth. Strange though this may seem, I am inspired by Louigi's use of stereo for this kind of music and will be studying it more closely to learn how to incorporate it into my own work.
 
4Sound Quality Description
This is really what stood out the most to me while listening to this piece. Louigi's always displayed a knack for making rich, pleasing sounds, but this one stood out to me. The instrumental timbres are all well chosen, and the layered sounds fit very well with each other both in terms of spectrum and in terms of mood - the production is very sound, and the characteristic nature of each sound serves to move the mood forward, so in addition to simply sounding good, the qualities of the sound serve as an integral part of how the artistry works. It's worth noting that the song sounds significantly different in my headphones than over my speakers, due to a different frequency response curve. There are instrumental subtleties that show up in headphones that are largely lost in the mix over speakers (at least in my room), but the stereo effects sounded better on the speakers since they could naturally reverberate around the room. It is worth trying the piece both ways to see which way you like it better; I found both very good, but emphasizing different details.
 
5Vocals Description
There are sparse vocal clips present in here, heavily effected so as to be almost unintelligible, as is common in electronic music. It works here the same as it works anywhere else, though I would like to point out that this piece does not rely on them as a gimmick or hook, like so many songs do. They're there, they add a bit of ambiance, but don't much get in the way of what makes the piece good. I don't however, think the piece needed them, and found them mildly distracting.
 
6Does it work as a piece of music Description
It not only works as a fine piece of music, but it's one I've taken to listening to very often. It works both as "listening" and as "background" music very nicely, and has earned a permanent place on my playlists. I've listened to a fair amount of Louigi Verona and must say that this one is one of my favorites. Well done, Louigi.
 
Comments
Jun 27 2008 4:10 am
by Louigi Verona
Wow! Thanks! What I found really valuable in this review is that it stated the development of the tune in transitions. This was the effect that I was studying from Saafi Brothers and which is very difficult to do and I am very happy I succeeded. It is also great that it works both as background and as listening, since this is what music ambient should be by it's strict definition. Thanks, man, you really made my day!