Overview
Sorry for the long delay in between posts! My winter break
from university kept me away from my good sound equipment, and I always like to
do my reviews using the best equipment possible to hear all the subtleties in
the sound.
Anyway, I didn’t know about this album or this producer until Reddit user ofsaltyvanilla pointed them out
to me. After giving “Vibgyor” a cursory listen, I was intrigued and decided to
engage in a full review. “Vibgyor,” by the way, stands for the colors of the
rainbow in reverse, and the album seems to carry a color/art theme. Without
further adieu, here’s the breakdown.
Music
1)
Landscape II: This is a really
interesting intro. It’s almost entirely instrumental (Miku’s voice is used to
do some “aah-ing” in the background), and it uses a gentle music box to get it
rolling. It’s very quiet and almost conveys a sense of melancholy, but as the
ambient noise begins to creep in it becomes a very hopeful-sounding track.
After that it takes on a standardized rhythm and an upbeat, pleasant sound.
It’s quite nice.
2)
For Us All: This track can best be
described as “soft and flittering.” Miku’s voice is gentle and a tad shrill,
and the song gives the feeling of recounting a story. The background
instruments are all light and optimistic, and there are quite a few of them (to
the point where it’s tough to identify what they all are). The drums are
especially tight, so I give them a shout-out, but there’s some other
high-pitched instrument playing the melody lines that also sounds quite lovely.
3)
Hide and Seek: There’s something about
the rhythm of this song that I would describe as “African.” The gentle,
low-attack quality of the drums combined with a steady and fast rhythm
accompanied by slow lyrics makes me think of drum circles. Miku’s voice also
has that sort of tribal excitement here (she’s upbeat and engaged without being
too fast or loud). There’s a tambourine in the background as well as what
sounds like a wooden xylophone. This song isn’t quite as optimistic-sounding as
the previous two, but it’s far from downbeat. It’s just a bit slower and not
quite as emotional. My only complaint about this song is that there isn’t much
variety in its tone. There’s not a big chorus or a noticeable crescendo; it
just putters along at its same pace the whole time, and at 5:13, that’s a long
while. That being said, it’s still pretty good.
4)
Leucocoryne: “Hide and Seek” transitions
directly into this song, which is a very nice touch. “Leycocoryne” is a more
bubbly and rhythm-based song, and the drums are sure to have you bobbing your
leg up and down. This sounds like a very fun walking song, or just a great song
to sing along to. Miku’s voice isn’t terribly differentiated from the previous
two tracks, unfortunately, and the lack of instrumental variety begins to make
the album feel a little stale. However, it’s not terribly much so, as the
bubbly atmosphere this song creates is still charming, and inclusions of infrequently
heard instruments such as a brass section and a xylophone keep things
interesting. That brass section, by the way, is very well done, and by the time
to song reaches its end it feels like fairies fluttering around. There’s a PV with a absolutely
gorgeous illustration, so I recommend you check it out.
5)
So Little Time: This takes a more
conventional approach in the instrumental section, coming in with an electric
piano and Miku’s voice. The song sounds a bit sad; Miku’s voice is very gentle
and slightly downbeat, and the song seems like a lament. There are no
instruments besides an electric piano, chimes that hold down the rhythm, and a
droning wind instrument that is probably a flute or clarinet. It’s a pleasant
and slightly melancholy piece that acts as a nice mid-point to the album.
6)
Breathe In: The title is appropriate, as
the song begins to pull us out of the sleepy mood that “So Little Time” put us
in. The beat is a little more active, and you’ll probably bob your head to it.
These are actual drums holding down the beat once more, which makes it feel
more active than the chimes and wind instruments relegated to the task
previously. The piano is energetically playing a lot of chords, and chimes are
running up and down for the melody.
These elements come together to create a pretty, upbeat, and delicate
feeling.
7)
Turn That Dream: The song starts with a
flute and a pizzicato violin playing together in a way that can only be
described as “dancing.” The two are intertwining nicely, and it feels like the
plucked violins strings are emulating someone dancing through a meadow in the
woods. It gets especially interesting when Miku’s voice kicks in; she sounds
more robotic than she did in previous songs, as Ryuryu has applied some sort of
chorus effect to her. This quality of Miku’s doesn’t remain this way throughout
the whole song, but it’s noticeable anytime she’s singing quality. This
roboticism isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it sound interesting, and makes me
think that this song is the story of a robot’s dreams. There’s an electric
piano holding down the rhythm along with clapping human hands. The drums are
there too, though they sound very quiet relative to the other musical elements
of the song (you can really only pick out the cymbals unless you try very
hard). Miku’s voice carries much of the optimism and brightness seen throughout
the album, and these elements work together quite well.
8)
Watercolor: This song might be the most
well-known of the bunch, as Ryuryu released it first via his Bandcamp page to
give people an idea of what the album would be like. Unfortunately, it might be
my least favorite of the bunch. If I had to summarize it, I’d call it
“standard.” Nothing about it seems to really stick out at all. The drums and
synth do a good job of keeping down the beat, and Miku’s voice is acceptable. The
beat is nice, admittedly, and Miku’s voice will have you bobbing along, but
that’s really all there is to the song. Nothing sticks out as being
particularly good or bad about it, and it doesn’t have any special points. The
flittery-ness of the song is much like what almost every other track on the
album features, and it doesn’t differentiate itself much at all. It’s not a bad
song in its own right – someone looking for a chill Miku song will undoubtedly
enjoy this song, as it is good – but it just doesn’t do enough to differentiate
itself from the other tracks on this album for me to give it a firm
recommendation.
9)
Juvenille: This track is a slow burner,
with a prolonged start featuring slowly escalating chimes. The rest of the song
follows suit with musical parts coming in and developing the piece one by one
(It’s a “Juvenille” song at first that grows into its own!). This effect is
pulled off really well, and the end result is quite cool. “Juvenille” is the
longest track in the album, clocking in at an impressive 6:43. Miku’s voice is
exciting and meshes very well with the rest of the instruments, particularly
when he has her sing “la la la” as a rhythm element. There’s a great variety to
the soundscape, including drums, chimes, electric piano, and Miku’s voice
utilized for rhythm and melody at different times. It’s a great semifinal song,
and it’s probably my favorite song on the album. My only real complaint is that the outro feels
a little too long, but hey, the Beatles did it with “Hey Jude,” so it’s not a
big deal, right?
10) Vibgyor:
And here we are, the titular track that serves as the end. “Vibgyor” starts off
very quietly and gently, and it’s pretty much just Miku’s voice, some chimes,
and a viola/violin combo for a while. As the song progresses, it picks up more
sonic elements, much like “Juvenille” did. However, “Vibgyor” is much slower
and more downbeat/soft. Right around the halfway mark, however, it crescendos,
and the drums kick in as a more dominant sonic element. Miku begins “la la
la”-ing again, and it sounds wonderful. This song feels very much like a
“farewell” song, even more so than Juvenille did. The last 30 seconds of the
song are a musicbox quietly playing us out before the final silence.
Final Remarks
This album has a
very definitive and unique sound to it. Ryuryu uses some unorthodox instruments
to great advantage, such as flutes and xylophones. Miku;s voice is also used
well, as it sound quite pretty and goes well with the themes of the album (or
at least, what I interpret them to be. It seems to me to be about a robot who
is awakening and seeing color/dreams for the very first time. I could be
completely wrong, of course, so please let me know if I’m off the mark!) The
album is not without its drawback, however. Ultimately the tracks do little to
differentiate from each other, and the differences can be subtle enough that a
listener might not even notice that the tracks have changed if they leave the
album on in the background of whatever they’re doing. Sometimes this gets to
the point where, in certain songs such as “Hide and Seek,” it almost seems like
the song is just dragging out forever. In the end, however, this is a solid
album that showcases a very unique style for a very unique producer.
7/10
