Topic: The Music Thread

@StitchJones Whenever I hear someone talk about their lives and the things they do, especially when its traveling a lot, or being from a different country that I can't relate to but sounds fascinating to me because of how different it is from the US.

• It's very different in America and I've lived there too but it's different because America like most of the West lives and operates with a mostly modern outlook and under the flag of democracy. I didn't know what equality was until someone here recently explained it. At the same time I find absolute bliss and comfort in oppression and certain Controlling behaviors. That probably shouldn't be the case but I'm also a realist, what you find fascinating others might find horrifying. That's how I see freedom, as terrifying and yet America is the land of the free. I'd argue that England is too but I wouldn't know because I'm forbidden to have English friends. This here is when I go outside of those boundaries and I can justify it under curiosity, the same way you said the world is begging to be explored. The world itself doesn't interest me in the slightest, I live in my own society and by extension my own world.

I do see the world but that's render distance from the air, and I should want to see more? I don't, I have no interest in what's being kept from me. I don't understand it and it would be all too overwhelming. People are different, I'm curious about people so I talk to them. I can learn everything else from books and rigorous study, it's different with people, that has to be from the source.

My personal view on being a loner is that of stoicism. By that token 'loner' becomes productive isolation, which is one of the main tenets of stoicism. I look at isolation as self-improvement and inner peace. I read, study, and have tutors who home school me in everything I need to know. I think that's more than enough. In a way yes I'm a loner too. I'm with Someone but we don't follow anything that comes close to a normal dynamic nor do I want a normal dynamic. We don't for example play games together, nor watch movies, nor really talk to each other if not for a couple of minutes per day and yet we are absolutely one hundred percent in-sync because I understand what he wants and he understands what I need. It's a very no nonsense way to live, simply because he doesn't tolerate nonsense.

If the idea of someone telling you want to wear, what to eat, when to talk, how to walk, how to sit and when to go to bed sounds oppressive? then you wouldn't want that. I do because I understand it and need it. Would you be a loner if you had a cat? or rather would a cat be a loner if they had an Owner? It's never black and white, just different shades of grey.

I chose to be a loner, accept it ages ago and will not change, too old to bother. But at the same time, I hear these things that make me feel small.

• I'm one by design as are many people I've talked to over the years with a similar background. My theory is that we are kept away from the world because we might one day come of age and then decide to make some changes for the better, from the top. Change like that would upset the balance, my world and the people in it exist in that balance. That doesn't mean I'm not open to new concepts, if I wasn't we wouldn't be having this conversation. Isolation and being a loner doesn't mean you can't listen and observe others, I did that on this site for a year to the day before I said a word. Much like the Martians in War of The Worlds. They observed Earth from afar and yes they had specific intentions (invasion) but mine are different, I just relate with their methods of observation while the other Martians around me have more unscrupulous ways about them.

Pop quiz, what's the last piece of music that sent actual shivers down your spine? I came across this by Imogen Heap a couple of months ago (no video, just a still image unfortunately). The headwear makes her look like the amygdala from Bloodborne:

@GirlVersusGame I really liked Spem in alium, but it's intimidating, there's so much going on I think it will take me a while to absorb. I bet it would be quite an experience to hear that on a plane.

I did remind me a bit of a scene I love in the film Hannibal (the outdoor Italian play) which has this music behind it:

@DrVenture69 That's the modular structure and the fact both use Latin. The language (Latin) is where the devotion elements come in, there's a dark but romantic undertone to both. There's also a similar layering of orchestral strings which create that same sonic wall and choral arrangement, with a similar number of choirs too. It's that density of the arrangement that probably appealed to your 'this sounds similar'. For me it's the dynamic range, which it has in spades. I don't just hear it I feel it. Speakers fill my room and so do the eight choirs, the spatial and dynamic contrast moves around those speakers and around the room. It's the closet thing to hearing it again live, in full-cadence it can be overwhelming to a lot of people. I use the proper arrangement to replicate that richer sound, that climax around the 40th bar, if I ever had neighbors they'd hear it too. I think even the grand pauses themselves would overwhelm a lot of people but that accentuated dynamic range feels to me like pure bliss.

Both pieces are in essence about God, Spem in Alium is about hope and elevation through that Divine force while Vide Cor Meum focuses on La Vite Nuova. That's a more softer form of adoration, but still adoration to God. I'm not Religious, my musical background is just very strict, my fingers literally bled to learn Vivaldi so 'but it's intimidating, there's so much going on I think it will take me a while to absorb' That's exactly how I was trained in classical and that's the kind of strict over-complicated arrangement I still enjoy today. Below is all Spem in Alium and that (for hours, all night) would probably drive most people deranged but to me it helps to reinforce order and structure, I hyper focus rather than get overwhelmed and lose focus.

You probably found Vide Cor Meum more approachable because of how it amplifies and relies on that core melodic range. Spem in Alium is more structured and direct, it's strict in it's delivery which I like. I was never a trained vocalist but I do play cello and had to learn violin for a time, I play piano too. I find it easy to translate that range into both instruments, you commented about sixty days worth of Vivaldi I think? I listen as I play, it helps me to focus and replicate what I hear better. I feel the dynamic range and then translate it through an instrument/cello or piano. I can't with Metal because I've never picked up a guitar, and then there is all the shouting, I'd blow my voice out. With a cello I can so something similar, just more controlled.

Pop quiz, what's the last piece of music that sent actual shivers down your spine?

• Most likely The Mourning Tree by Jennifer Curry (who you mentioned) most pieces from that soundtrack really. Especially the track that plays in the holiday park before the two boys talking and one says he has to get home to his child who is teething, the piece of music right before then.

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, Vide Cor Meum is a lot simpler. I just loved the way it fits into the film. I always seem to end up watching it late night on a summer Saturday with a couple of glasses of wine. Listening to it always gives me the same feeling

@DrVenture69 I just had my platinum ding on the game and went to Spotify to check something. I have heard that choir before and live too. They were part of the Skyrim 10th Anniversary show. Everybody's Gone to The Rapture along with Jessica Curry went through Sony Classical Records and James Morgan is the same conductor. Jessica is part of that same choir. There was something very familiar about that choir but I didn't want to look anything up until I was done with the game and sure enough she is part of their London Voices line-up.

The last time I heard them was before Christmas for a seasonal performance. That piece of music 'The Pattern Calls Out', I kept thinking 'why does this sound like Ben Parry?' It's because he's the other conductor she's worked with, it's uncanny when you know what to listen out for. Both conductors work with Renaissance polyphony and it's a kind of composition I'm naturally tuned to. I know Ben's work better, he's worked with many choirs for movies like Bond, Star Wars, The Hobbit etc, his conducting style can be felt right through the music. James works more with Philharmonics, that might have been his first game and even then I don't see a full credit but that's him with Jessica and their London Voices line-up. I know him more from his live performances, Spotify have so little of his work up there. I see Jessica did the soundtrack for Dear Esther, that might be my next game.

@GirlVersusGame I need to play Everybody's Gone to the Rapture again, I accidentally sequence broke it last time and missed three of the stories. The Mourning Tree is a gorgeous track, I love The Seventh Whistler and Aurora too.

@DrVenture69

@StitchJones Nice! I liked Move Up by Wovenwar too. I’ll listen to anything. It’s the best way to find music outside our comfort zones. I even spent a Saturday morning listening to Dubstep since i didnt know anything about it😄. I love weird stuff too, mathrock like Tortoise and this which weird but i love it:

@StitchJones

There's a place that I've found as far as I can see
This place lies within the depths of my dreams
In a garden surrounded by fire and trees
Through the smoke, a silhouette, I can barely see

@GirlVersusGame "I saw my favorite band get a mention and had to make an addition."
The video didn't play for some reason. The other's ran fine.

@DrVenture69 Wovenwar formed with the 2 guitar players from As i lay dying (phil and nick) after Tim (as i lay dying's singer) got put in prison for hiring a hit man to kill his wife. Wovenwar was only together for 5yrs, 2 albums and all went separate ways

@StitchJones Maybe you get age verified on your account? It could be regional too. It's hard to know with Youtube.

The same song, different uploader.

@GirlVersusGame yeah it plays now and i love that song by underoath. i like the melodic parts where the drummer sings regular melodic. it contrasts the lead singer growling during the verses etc nice

You can't trust Melanie. But, you can always trust Melanie to be Melanie. - Ordell