| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 9 |
| Interest | 9 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 8 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 8 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 7 |
| Overall | 8.3 |
Review time again. The artist this time is Howsie, who never fails to surprise me by taking a turn in a different direction with his compositions. I’m still waiting for him to finish his superb “Fusion Experiment 1”. This go around, he asked me to take a listen to his composition, “The Climb”.
First: the production. Excellent. It sounded as good, or better, than a lot of soundtracks I have listened to. Especially in the first half of the song, there is an interesting blend of haunting strings, piano, and what I can only imagine was Tibetan horn or chant. It’s a strange combination that works beautifully. There is good separation and placement of the instruments; nothing competes with any other instrument in the mix. Well done. Even when the sax and percussion are added, nothing dominates the mix. I’m amazed at how Howsie mentioned in the description how he had to keep mixing down the tune as he added things. You wouldn’t know it. The sound and mix are crystal clear. Very polished. I also couldn’t tell if Howsie was using samples or loops, or whether he was playing many of the parts in real-time. Well done. It all sounds very natural and very musical.
The composition: The title is apt for the tune. This music takes you on a journey. The beginning is absolutely beautiful. It’s very airy, powerful, and dramatic. The interspersed piano notes in various places are a great touch. This music keeps moving forward, taking you somewhere else. The introduction of the cymbals and the sax took me surprise, mainly because they have a very polished jazz sound against the more atmospheric music leading up to it. Liked it a lot. The more tribal sounding drums that segue-way felt right at home. The synth section that comes next caught me off guard. I like the Gm-D-F-Gm progression a lot. The choice of patch for the synth, and I know this is a personal preference, feels harsh and somehow out of place with the beauty and majesty that preceded it. Also, I kept waiting for the section to continue building, but it just repeats and fades out. It’s not that I didn’t like it- I just felt like I was listening to two different songs. I think if the tone had not changed so sharply, it would have worked better for me. It does, however, have power, energy, and drive.
Overall, I like this piece a great deal. Howsie is a very talented composer, and he just keeps getting better. I’m reminded of Peter Gabriel or Mike Oldfield when I’m listening to this, and that’s good company to keep. Howsie has a gift, and I would not be surprised if he wasn’t doing film scores in the future. I feel positive I will take some hits for the scoring when it comes to whether or not the song is commercially viable. It's sad, but music like this probably won't become a commercial reality. That's too bad. The world needs to hear a composer like this. ...As it is, we get to enjoy him now.
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