Primary Emotions/Themes: Life after death, exploration
Thoughts: Why do I write these summaries/reviews? I sometimes question my sanity, especially now that I've written several hundred of these things. Is this something I enjoy doing anymore? Or is this something I'm doing just to complete an insane goal I set for myself a few years ago?
The answer to that is somewhere in-between most likely. Almost as if in a perpetual state of purgatory, some days I truly enjoy this, other days I force myself to write just to complete a goal. Not too unlike the role of the protagonist of Oninaki.
Oninaki is a game about the land between life and death, a land where ghosts and spirits roam before becoming reincarnated. A place where spirits can become wraiths or oni if they have something tying them back to the physical world. Sometimes those spirits are innocent and simply don't remember what has happened in their previous life. Much like Linne, the girl on the cover.
As one may expect the music in Oninaki is sorrowful and lonely. The music on this record is built on the idea of simplicity. While the full OST has a wide variety of styles and emotions, most often the music here is pushed forward by a piano and an accompanying instrument.
To start things off, the main theme is played by piano and cello, creating an incredibly moving duet between the two. The two instruments weave back and fourth creating a sound similar to that of water droplets falling in a pond. It sets the tone nicely for the record and lets the listener know what the next forty or so minutes will entail.
While the music contained in the opening of the record is highly emotional and moving, there is yet more to this record. Some of the songs sound similar to the opening, minimalist and full of emotion. Other tracks are more upbeat and have the spirit of exploration and wonder in them. Despite the differences between the tracks selected there is always a sense of peace or mourning as an underlying theme.
This is the kind of record I like to put on during a rainy evening. The kind of record to put on while snow is cascading down from the sky and slowly dotting the landscape. It's not perfect, but hardly anything is. For what it is, this is a wonderful record to spin when life needs to slow down.
Written November 14th 2023
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