I like the furtive piano riff at the beginning and the dreamy pads that slowly fade in from there. The vocals at :20 or so are nice, but also sound a tad staccato-y and sharp compared to the rest of the texture. I might suggest taking some oomph off of the treble in the EQ and adding some more wet reverb/delay to smooth it out a tad, at least towards the beginning. I like the sense of climax into :44 and the energy. The piece is a little slow to progress from there, but I’m enjoying the bright, upbeat tone and the clean mix. The minimal drop at 1:50 is great, and I really like the filtered white noise at 1:53. The drums sound really crisp, and all of the instruments really well-balanced. Nice job with the automations on that lead synth at the bridge at 2:30 - it really makes some otherwise dry arpeggios sound really interesting and dynamic. There are elements of the texture that are a little generic - the chord progression and some of the synths, for example. I also would’ve appreciated some more variation on the main melody later in the piece. I really like the mellow piano outro, which makes the piece come full-circle nicely. Overall, this is a great piece. You’ve clearly put a ton of effort into the mixing and mastering, composition, and sound design alike, and it really pays off. Keep up the good work, Drak02! :)
Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10