I like the percussion at the beginning and the nature sound effects. The chord progression is a little funky, but the arpeggios at :28 help me follow along with the harmonic shifts. The mix is pretty good, if a tad over-compressed. I really like the sound design, atmosphere, and rhythmic content overall. My biggest complaint is probably with the arrangement - it feels a bit aimless and slow to progress throughout, although the melody at 1:50 helps alleviate that problem. Still, the wonky chord progression leaves me with a sense of tension that’s never really resolved, and the sudden ending doesn’t help in that regard. It also seems like the most dynamic element of the texture that’s playing at a given time is usually just a riff designed to outline the chord progression, as opposed to giving the piece a sense of evolution. It might’ve been advisable to switch up the harmonic pattern somewhere - the piece is lacking an “arrival point” that helps sell the narrative arc of the track, if that makes sense. Despite my complaints about the composition, the production quality is very strong, and you also got full credit for instrumentation and almost-full credit for originality. The piece is catchy and has a nice atmosphere. Fleshing out the composition a little more could easily turn this into an 8-range track. Keep at it, Kamalamalamalam! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7/10

i find everything about this incredibly odd. weird rhythm, kooky chords, wacky sound design. actually it's just the bass and the highpassed chord thing that feels wacky tbf. but yea, i don't feel a sense of springtime in this at all, it's more like chugging ayuhuasca. little in the way of variety for drum patterns, would be nice to have some fills in transitions at least instead of the same 4 bar pattern. flute melody is cool but the underlying detuned bass and chords don't mesh with it at all. the ending is pleasant comparatively but i think the second last chord (i think it's an A half-diminished chord?) is a really questionable choice.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

why is there sonic in the tags lmao