Two of my all-time favourite albums that to me are all about Instrumentality:
In Rainbows by Radiohead and
( ), or
The Bracket Album, by Sigur Rós
In Rainbows, as with a lot of Radiohead/Thom Yorke music, invokes feelings and imagery of water, isolation, the primordial sea and the ever-oncoming apocalyptical flood (which is a blunt metaphor for global warming, always a major theme for Thom and company post-
Kid A). Here, though, visually the music is imbued with hues of orange and tungsten - our LCL - given form by the string section, arpeggios, synthesisers, intricately picked guitar chords and warm chesty vocals, sometimes whispered. Heck, there's even children's group vocals - our childhood memories - in the opening track. I couldn't paint any easier of a picture in the parallel, could I. Even the titular rainbows and cover art tie-in. Also, the band have stated in an interview around the time of release saying it's basically about loss and "the fucking panic of realising you're going to die."
Now, The Bracket Album is much more obtuse and more of a nebulous association. It's mostly instrumental (lol) with little use of vocals, and what is sung is sung in a made-up language; Vonlenska AKA Hopelandic. The lyrics have a make-of-them-what-you-will effect, tipping directly into your soul. However, the key conceit that plugs it in is that the album is clearly divided in two - each composed of four songs - with a strong progression throughout. The album starts out optimistic, warm and beautiful but it gets darker, more sparse and introspective as it goes on until the end. In this way it's a reversal of Shinji's experience, or the experience of an individual who has an opposite outcome; someone choosing to go off into the deep end, divesting their individuality and corporeal identity. The music itself - ambient post-rock - is cinematic in sound and scope. A four person band producing something as large and great as a fully fleshed out orchestra. The music here is deeply tied to a personal Tokyo-3 before and after Third Impact; entire places, moments and people come and go between notes. This is the soundtrack to Instrumentality.
FrDougal9000 wrote:After watching the Happy Video Game Nerd review, I've recently become obsessed with the SEGA Saturn horror game Enemy Zero and its beautiful soundtrack, composed by Michael Nyman (Yes, that Michael Nyman). My favourite song out of the soundtrack has to be the third track, Aspects of Love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENh_am7oLXE
