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Innocence

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Dedicated to a great artist on Newgrounds who also served in several deployments in Iraq: Anchorwind


This is the level/stage where your character stops for a moment and reflects upon the beauty of the realm that he is in. A moment of serenity and a break from the action. Like in Last of Us with that scene where you walk across a desolate building amid a bright, clear day, and all of a sudden giraffes graze upon the open field with their majestic and graceful walk.


But in this scene particularly, we come across a small child tinkering away with a piano as the sun’s rays lie upon a dusty floor. All is calm as far as one can see from out a cracked window. Unbeknownst to the child, one listens from a distance to the fumbling of notes that seem to just wander by each single note in its purity while also being untainted from any other tone around. The music has not known such poignancy to accompany this child, but rather it is content by any of the proceeding notes.

When the music stops and the child goes, one stares upon the piano as it sits in silence waiting to remedy you. One’s thoughts may withdraw in disbelief in thinking how foolish the whole experience has been, but then retentively turns toward that child, “what poor child oblivious to what awaits from out in the distance.” Those notes will never be heard again and will for years past become like an alluring fog within a dream. Surely it is mystery from where this child has come and to what horrors may await to whom that brought such a moment of consolation from this hell-bent life. While many have had and will continue to partake in, what will ever happen to this child?

Well... eventually you may realize that child was you.

Somewhere down the road we lost it.


Category: Stage (Level) Music


Inspiration:

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Innocence... I've heard of that.

I remember listening to this a long while ago. I wanted to come back and listen again. Here I am, and here you shall also be.

Phonometrologist responds:

On occasion one may predict future events with such precision. We are not always what we once were and to foresee that can be at times more troublesome than what we will be.
I lost it. Thank you for recalling it for me.

this is something amazing

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you for reminding me this exists

Well, I think there's not much to say that hasn't already been said by someone below, and that's a good thing :)

Love the feeling on this one. The synth strings that come in around 2:15 give it a distinct sci-fi feeling. Almost more "awe" to me than innocence. Like a grand revelation or first-contact moment.

One thing I might do mix-wise is turn down the piano a bit. I know it's the focal instrument in this piece, but it gets a little loud at times. May also help cover up a few creaks from the bench and what sounds like might be some slightly detuned keys.

Phonometrologist responds:

Thanks for listening and leaving a review! I don't take these for granted.
"Almost more "awe" to me than innocence. Like a grand revelation or first-contact moment"
sure I can hear that as well. Know that this interpretation you gave can be correct since this is a piece about lost innocence. Reminiscing of the past and grasping for what it was like before then. I stand in revelation to that fact that I cannot go back as there is a gap of where I was and now.
The bench sound and detuned keys is something I'm fond of philosophically in my music. I like the reality of imperfection and the "organic" sound as one would put it.

Ok, the play count is wrong. I've had this on loop for a little over 8 hours now, giving me 100 listens by myself. I digress. I've tried in earnest to find my relevance here. I get the art piece. I get the written description. I don't get my role here. Furthermore, I don't really talk about my tours much here (NG)*, so you may have had to do some digging elsewhere**? ....unless we've had conversations i'm forgetting (entirely possible). Regardless, thanks for the nod, even if I don't understand what I had to do do with it.

Regarding the piece itself: I really enjoy it. It sounds almost random enough for a tinkerer like me to play at 2 in the morning when I'm just searching for something.

*(NG) : NG is a strange place for me, I've been here for a few years but it is such a quiet, almost dead, place that i'm surprised when anything at all happens. I think that's the consequence of not being a "mainstream" content producer. /shrug.

**Digging elsewhere: If you did, thanks. Not that it would be hard, a quick google search of anchorwind makes me very easy to find.

--Dear NG: I wish you would let us come back and edit comments. This is one I know upon learning more I would like to change. Sigh--

Phonometrologist responds:

We exchanged messages before and you mentioned it to me directly. Plus, the heartgrinder and I were talking. Either way, I planned on writing this piece for a month now and your role in this is very much a philosophical one. Music has to start somewhere that is on a silent palette. Where does one begin? You were the motive to its conception primarily because of our talks and who you are, but not music related. Anyway, I'm a man that struggle with words so I decided to use music to communicate my emotions on a broken world.

Really great work here! I also have to ask if that piano is real? Because of all the noise that seems to accompany the piano. If it is real, how did you get that dramatic stereo effect? With two different takes? It sounds really awesome I love the how the two pianos are interwoven with each other.

This really reminds me of something that Olafur Arnalds would do. At least that specific piano sound, the dull noisy texture. The stings and atmosphere are absolutely perfect accompaniment to the swirling piano and guitar plucks. Job Well done.

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you Omega! You know, I was just thinking about ya and wanting to check up on what you've been doing lately.
The piano is real, i.e., my own, and I played this on one take. I used two mics on either ends of the piano. Though, they weren't a stereo pair as it was whatever mics I could get my hands on.
I had to look up Olafur Arnalds. Thank you for another artist to go to in regards to piano music.
Thank you for your time in listening and writing a review :)

Credits & Info


Listens
2,859
Faves:
13
Downloads
50
Votes
13
Score
4.31 / 5.00

Uploaded
Jul 12, 2015
11:39 PM EDT
Genre
Ambient
File Info
Song
11.5 MB
5 min 1 sec

Licensing Terms

You may not use this work without making specific arrangements with the artist UNLESS your work is a web-based game or animation, in which case you may use this freely.