Piano, female vocals, a dramatic yet delicate collection of songs that actually feel like an album. Everything that I love about a well put together video game soundtrack is here in spades, I just don't know if I like this one or not. Maybe getting my thoughts down on paper will help me determine my actual feelings about Gris.
The music in Gris is largely piano and vocal led. This hardly tells the whole story of what is going on with the music. In between the vocal and piano interludes there are powerful swells of full orchestral builds and choirs. Sometimes these builds work well for the music, other times they fall flat on their face. I've played the game so I know what the music is doing at these points and while they work well within the context of the game, listening to it without the visual cues I don't think it works nearly as well.
On the opposite side, when the album stays fragile and venerable with minimalist melodies and a lot of reverb thrown in with it... these are some of the moments when the album truly shines. Along with the quiet moments, the music has a mastery of themes or leitmotifs. There are melodies that are explored and manipulated throughout the album, but they are always recognizable. The main theme in particular works its way in every so often in spectacular form throughout the tracks.
So in Gris there are moments that I enjoy greatly and moments that I could do without. I'm still not sure what side wins out, but man when the album restrains itself and keeps things to a minimum... this is something special when it does that. So I guess that's the side that wins, despite all it's flaws when Gris is calm it is glorious.
This is one of the last soundtracks that I wanted when I first got into video game music. With it entering the collection the list of "must have" soundtracks is down to a number I can count on one hand. It's a good feeling to feel complete with a genre of music.
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