Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- I think this track relies a bit way too much on delay and reverb to fill up its space. Delay and reverb is FANTASTIC, mind. I absolutely love the echoes and trails leading off of it. However, what this can do is reduce the impact of your percussion quite a bit, and bury a lot of details in the mix, particularly during climactic portions. The absolute flood of reverb/delay trails can also cause listening fatigue, reverb because of how "flat" the texture is and delay from all the repetition and syncopation it results in. I think these could both be toned down quite a bit, especially reverb in the climaxes and the delay at the very beginning causing some particularly odd syncopation.

- Quite frankly, the overuse of delay and reverb is the biggest issue by far. So, instead of pointing out another major thing, let's talk about how to take this track to the next level *instead* of by using such intense delay and reverb to fill up the space. Some of your instruments would do phenomenally with an auto-panner, like your arpeggios and main melody when it comes in. This would fill up the space and allow your delays to cross over each side when they are present. Additionally, adding some more higher frequency sound (aside from that ride cymbal that comes in around 20 seconds for the first time... it's not bad, but for me personally it outright causes headaches) and bits of "ear candy" like higher pitch harmonic lines and momentary percussion fills that make more use of reverb than the other instruments would absolutely make this SPARKLE in some really really tasteful ways.

Compliments to the Composer:

- This is remarkably unrepetitive and listenable, especially for how basic the chord progression is and how much of it is built out of arpeggiation. I love the reverb tails coming *out* of climactic sections even if they can get a little much inside of them (automation can let you reduce this kind of thing temporarily!), and the sense of space and steady rhythm in the track is very lovely. Really nice work, I hope to hear more of how you explore this style.

Final score: 7.5