Style: Video game music, chilled out synthwave, ambient, cyber punk
Primary Emotions/Themes: Good times with friends, mystery
Thoughts: This was one of the first video game soundtracks that entered into my collection. I ended up trading for it and after listening for about a week straight I shelved it. I had forgotten what it sounded like, so it was time to play the tunes from the Red Strings Club once again.
The music contained in these two discs is exceptionally chill. It combines retro-futuristic sounds in the context of a lounge atmosphere on a rainy night.
The album's start is the perfect encapsulation of everything that is to come. Rain pours down onto the side walk as a piano slowly fades in from the club. Walking into the club the music takes over as the rain fades. While the music is clear there is still an obscurity to it. Sounding close yet distant at the same time, clear but slightly opaque as well. Maybe just a bit of reverb and a bit of a lo-fi filter accomplish this, but I prefer to let the music take me away instead.
While most of the soundtrack is slower and more chill in pace there are sections where it does become darker and a bit more mysterious. The enigmatic Consultant Engineer is a fine example of a deviation from the norm. It's guitar driven, though not like a typical guitar track. The instrument has several effects put on it to blur the notes. The end result is much like the guitar is being played under water. Alongside the guitar we have the ever present piano as well as some deep synth pads that lean deeply into the sci-fi side of the soundtrack. Consultant Engineer ends up sounding rather peculiar by the end of the track. It acts as a nice change of pace from the typical lounge atmosphere.
No matter the song the music always has a deep sense of direction. The flow of the album is immaculate, and leads the listener down a musical journey like only the best soundtracks do. I need to make a point to listen to this album before another few years pass, it deserves to be spun more than it has.
Written September 5th 2023
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