Ah yes. just another LSD song to add to my daily routine.
Author Comments
"The Gladiolus flower signifies remembrance. It also expresses infatuation, telling the receiver that he or she pierces the heart. It also stands for strength of character, faithfulness and honour."
Edit: Thanks for the frontpage! :)
Thank you so much to the wonderful Alex (LucidShadowDreamer) for performing the piano for this piece so beautifully. You're great.
A huge thank you as well to Elsie. I decided within about 12 hours to go until the deadline that the piece would most suit being a duet. Elsie was the first singer I had in mind, and fate had it that she had some spare time to jump on this project. What a talent. Elsie doesn't have a Newgrounds account, but you can listen to more of her voice over on her YouTube:
Lyrics:
Eyes that see, I believe,
Hopeful truths, that deceive
Wide awake, in a dream,
Blinded by reality
A beauty I know, next to me,
Can she feel my love,
I wonder, does she even notice me?
I will not
(Many years)
Be forgot
(I have dreamed)
You are mine
(a life that is all my own)
Stay with me
(Set me free)
Just do the right thing by you and me
Do you believe in a pure love?
Do you believe in obscure love?
Do you believe in being alone?
You are impossible to grasp
(Then why don't you give up?)
You are the one I want. I will never let you pass
Yours are the words that cut deepest
Mine is the heart that's the weakest
Climbing the highest of mountains
Searching for a way
Love is a flame ever-burning
I am a man ever-yearning
Destiny keeps us divided
And that is how it must be
That is the way it must be
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
This one is actually only performed by me! Jordi, aka @etherealwinds wrote the whole composition ^____^
Wow is this the collab LSD talked about? :O It's so beautiful. Probably best song this round. It's like some Disney songs. :D So well done guys and gal.
Time for your review, Jordi. Open wide! :)
Stuff that's great:
- Excellent piano progression at the start! I'm not sure what that sound in the background is, it almost sounds like light high hat hits.
- Christ, that singing is SO good. The duet is absolutely phenomenal too, extremely gorgeous.
- Honestly, the melody and melodic development in this are *so* good. It's very simple, but fits the chords and development wonderfully. The countermelodies in the duet work fantastically together - a great call and response in melody and lyrics.
- Reverb done right™. That vocal reverb is great at the start and fills out the mix pretty well.
Stuff that can be improved:
- I think that slightly less reverb in the middle would still be a good improvement seeing as the vocals are so strong anyway. It buries the piano somewhat.
- Second thing for reverb - the echo mixed with the reverb towards the end is a bit excessive and sounds kinda awkward without having indication that it would be that way earlier.
- I uh. What did you do to your voice at 1:28. That seems like a really awkward phrase of pitches for the voice to sing and doesn't really fit the beauty of the piece.
Man, I can't get enough of this piece. I legitimately think this is the best one you've ever made so far.
9.7/10
I like the emotion at the beginning. The intro dragged on for a bit long, but the vocals are hauntingly beautiful as always. The lyrics themselves are also good, but something about their pacing threw me off a bit. The delivery of “my love” at 1:25 and “does she even notice me” both felt a little rushed, especially in the context of the long melisma on “I wonder.” That’s a pretty small detail in context, though. I thought the interlocking vocal lines at 1:39 was a fantastic idea, although admittedly it was a little hard-to-follow without staring at the lyrics on the page. I absolutely love how the lyrics tell a story, while at the same time the structure of the piece seems a bit too meandering. I also thought that your voice sounded a little too breathy at times, like at “you are” (2:30) and “man” (3:23). Still, this content is beautiful and refreshing. You’ve really capitalized on the simplicity here to give the piece a lot of emotional appeal. Keep it up, Jordi! ;)
Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.75/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10
Probably the song in this round with the fewest number of instruments, and it still sounds full. Nice!
Lovely voices
etherealwinds responds:
Thank you Spadez! I think it was a bit of a risk this round, as tracks with few instruments tend to not to do so well in the NGADM. I knew that perhaps it could leave judges feeling a little left wanting. With this track, I felt that if I was going to muddy the piano arrangement with anything, I'd have to take it to full orchestra.
That being said, I wasn't really worrying about what I can add to try and impress anybody, or thinking about what could get me extra points. I just wanted to create something beautiful and I put just as much effort into this as I did with my tracks that have more going on. :)
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etherealwinds 
Licensing Terms
Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.
