I like the dreamy, if murky, texture at the beginning. The cutesy synth at :27 feels a lot more lucid by comparison, though, and might’ve used a bit more reverb to help blend into the atmosphere more. The acid bass at :48 is another pretty odd sound design choice IMO, but the harmonies blend well together, and the phasing effect on the bass helps add some variety to an otherwise slow-to-progress track. I like the string harmonies and crisp drums that come in at around 1:30. Overall, the mix here is a bit quiet, and the texture feels a tad off-balance, with the atmospheric synths much quieter than the mallet-like synth and strings. The chord progression is a bit generic, and in general the harmonic framework could use some shaking up at some point, especially in a 10+ minute-long track.

The arrangement of the piece also feels very formulaic, with regular changes every 8 or 16 measures, but not a lot of “ebb and flow” within those 16 bars. Just a lot of repeated note patterns, one or two of which is either added or subtracted like clockwork every 8 bars, and an occasional drum fill or sweep to mark a major transition. You clearly have a good sense of harmony and progression, but this “robotic phrasing” aspect of your composition is something that probably needs the most work IMO. It might help if you had some more dynamic riffs or melodies here - something that sounds like it’s leading somewhere at a given time, not just playing the same riff over and over again.

That said, I liked the minimal breakdown at 6:24. I think you could’ve done even more to play up the atmospheric appeal of that section with some more wet reverb and filtering effects. Much of the rest of the piece feels redundant with the first half, though. I was looking for a stronger sense of overarching development in a piece this long. One of my more nit-picky gripes is that, for most of the piece, the rhythms you use are very square - it’s just eighth note after eighth note in the strings and drums, and mostly quarters in the mallets. That said, the sound design grows on me over the course of the piece, and I think the production quality holds up quite well, with crystal clear instruments in the mix throughout.

Overall, you’ve made a relaxing, pensive-sounding, and well-produced track here. The composition is pretty bland, but the mood gets pretty enchanting after a while. Keep at it, Nisker! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10