1. White Ambient
Night swirls and mixes with a charming
breeze as they both meander their respective paths. Light hearted mischief sprinkles from above
encouraging fox to tease middle aged men on their way home, walking by the
field of tall grass.
Atop the hill, a view spanning
downward and outward of perky swaying grass blades in the blue of 8pm mid
spring followed by endless oceans, reflecting moon and stars; double cosmos. The water is calm, rivaled only by the placid
sky. Small stars twinkle, winkle, wink
for the people below.
Fire flies hover on the slope
just out of reach above the grass.
Spring Peepers provide a thin background chorus, somewhat mimicking the
starlight above.
White
Ambient has a long, slow form that repeats a bunch, key changes, repeats on
that, then goes back to original key. Takashi Kokubo likes to create intricate
soundscape swirls and shift them entirely.
The A section is as follows:
||: C maj 7 | C maj
7 |
C maj 7 | C maj 7
|
|B-11 | B-11
| B7 |
B7 |
|C maj 7 | C maj
7 |
C maj 7 | C maj 7
|
|E - | E -
| E - |
E - |
|Eb maj 7 | Eb maj
7 |
G maj/B | G maj/B
|
|Bb maj7 (#11) | Bb maj7 (#11) | G7
| G7 :||
Lots of
cool stuff going on here. The intro echo
sparkle riff plays G, D, F, E, D, C, D, B G.
Pretty cool how Kokubo outlines G7 (G D F) over the opening C maj 7
chord. At the end of that riff he
outlines G maj arpeggio (D B G). Neat
stuff. The emphasis in the melody is G
major, even though the harmony is C major 7.
Thumbs up (n.n)b !
Over the
C major chord there’s a wind instrument riff that trills around with B, C, B G
and let’s that ring out for a while.
During
the B-11 chord (Could be Bsus4), some riff emphasizes A and E notes, which then
resolve down to D# for the B7 chord.
C major
7 comes up again and Kokubo plays some cool voicing that sounds like world map theme in Legend of
Mana.
E- chord
time, some vague descending
3rds riff happening briefly.
Super
cool half step resolve to Eb major 7.
There’s a melody in here playing G, F, Eb, F, G, Bb A G. Nails the G right when the chord changes to G
maj /B (I think that’s what that is, hard to pin point it, very misty).
More
voice leading, B in the bass goes down to Bb and resolves to Bb major 7
chord. There’s a brief Lydian melody
here that, similar to the previous chord change, resolves down into G 7.
And that’s
the form! After this wondrous summer
breeze passes by a few times, star wash fades out on the G7 and BOOM, he shifts
the entire form up a whole step. Instead
of starting on C major 7, song starts on D major 7. Big dramatic key change, and the higher key
changes the timbre of the full piece, some chords stand out a little
better/differently.
After a
few repeats in D major, song shifts back down to original C major. This happens a few times, finally White
Ambient fades out on G7.
2. Solar Wind
The middle aged man, lost in day dream
gazing out at the sea – star divide, awakens and realizes he’s late for dinner;
his wife waiting for him. With a
lighthearted heightened pace, he continues his way home.
The blue of night conforms to
black, visibility is low and blurry; the blurry distant amber apartment lights
crisp in the air the nearer they become.
Crystals of clarity solidify and evaporate here and there in the air.
Lots of repeating in Solar
Wind. Got some fast walking paced guitar
bumping here. Form is as follows:
||
D7sus | D7sus | D7sus
| D7sus |
| E7sus
| E7sus |E7sus
|E7sus |
|D7sus | D7sus
| D7sus | D7sus
|
|C7sus |
C7sus |C7sus |C7sus
||
This bit repeats for the entirety of Solar Wind. The D7sus voicing uses notes like D, A, B, G, B ,C , and
sometimes E. This pattern shifts up
and down accordingly to fit the other sus chords.
Some
choir/synth pad sounds creep up throughout, and all the various leads and
percussive parts emphasis the sussy notesl the 4ths and 13ths. Prolly this song is a little more contained
since the previous one was such a wild adventure.
3. Catalyst
All is silent in the depths of night. Every conscious being is asleep. The earth slowly inhales and exhales, subtle
winds flow down empty streets, weaving between trees, scattering the occasional
leaf.
A fantasy triumphs briefly in the
dreams of children accompanied by innocent talking in sleep and shifting in
bed.
Cooling, restful darkness
envelopes all in her womb. Like a plant
gathering sunlight to grow, everything is in a state of inactivity, of
filtering away clutter and brain moosh, of emptying the mind to renew itself
for tomorrow.
Catalyst,
maybe named for that intense end section, is a fiery humid final excursion in
the Solar Wind soundfield. The form:
|| G maj add 9 |
D-9 | F maj7 (#11)
| C maj 7 |
| G maj add 9 |
D-9 | F maj7 (#11)
| C maj 7 ||
||G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 |
|G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 |
|G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 |
|G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 | G maj 7 |
| C- | C- | F#- | F# - |
|E maj 7/G# | E maj7/G#
| F# - |F# - ||
Then
repeats from the top. But this time when
it reached the end, goes to :
||C- |C- | F#- | F#- |
|C maj 7/E | C
maj7/E | F#7 | F#7
||
Please excuse if my repetitions are
off. Trippy song form, lots of arid
vibes happening in that minor chord section, some super wonky changes. What a scorcher to end it on!
In that middle G major 7 stretch,
melody is something like , G, F#, E, D, C ,B , B, C, D, E , B, descending for
that first bit, then ascending. Then it
follows the same pattern but starts on the B note. Later when this section repeats it’s
accompanied by a harmonizing line in 3rds.
Kokubo likes his internal structures.
At the end, we get another star
wash fade out and we are left with a brief Aurora Borealis as the Solar Wind
pulls in tide.
