#soundtrack analysis

[lilliths-not-just-httyd-blog]

listening to Hiccup Confronts Drago and man i dunno anything about music so ill explain what i mean using allusions to playing a piano. drago's theme kicks in about one minute in when hiccup is trying to reason with him and if it was played on piano either hand would be playing a different tune (?? listen to it to get what i mean, there's like two melodies playing to make up the whole song. idk music.) and at this point the right hand would be taking the lead. there's softer, higher notes where drago is monologuing about his past and hiccup still has hope to change his mind. as the song/scene progresses the left hand with the darker, deeper notes starts to drown out the right hand and take the lead as we realise holy shit this is not working this is very bad. the deep notes continue to build up and drown out the high notes until the high notes are literally just fucking gone. we're fucked.

and then that leitmotif from The Downed Dragon kicks in

[discussingfilms]

analyzing the track "fire temple" i noticed that the music gets gradually taller and somewhat happier but in the background has the sound of a violin that causes discomfort that is slowly increasing as well. the happiest part peaks at 8:10, as a last breath, and after that it drops off abruptly and the violin sound becomes the main sound.

for me this represents Dani finding a place of confort and happiness but this place is actually a evil place and now she's trapped there.

[okwillthewise]

So I’m listening to the Stranger Things 3 soundtrack (well the tracks on Spotify) and some of them are very interesting.

First of all, probably the obvious We’ll Meet Again- Vera Lynn I.e the famous WW2 era song. Separation hinted, but to fight some kind of ‘war’? Or having to leave for safety due to the upside down?

She’s Got You- Patsy Cline, seems very much about how someone has all the memories with someone, but they belong to someone else. In my head this kind of fits with the idea that Jopper can never truly be together, they keep missing one another somehow (though I really hope I’m wrong!)

Never Ending Story- Gaten and Gabriella Pizzolo. Look if this really is the song from the film, I have no idea, unless it’s going to be an ending theme or karaoke at one point?

These are the main ones that are standing out right now and because Spotify is playing up. I might update this. I’m always up for a bit of song analysis 🤓

[oadara]

https://youtu.be/kfi4lkQA15Y

Here is Jordi Maquiavello’s analysis of the soundtrack for the episode 8x01 of Game of Thrones.

Some interesting obeservations. I’m write more about it tomorrow.

[wibblywobblydragonywagonystuff]

✌️

[muhreblags]

Not a steven universe fan myself, but i just wanted to share this since it’s so cool and freaks the band nerd in me out

[zankyou-no-analyze]

Terror in Resonance Soundtrack Analysis: -crystalized-

After around a month of waiting, we are finally presented with the second soundtrack (arguably just as good as the first one). While the first soundtrack contained most of the “main theme” songs, this soundtrack has enough character to stand on its own as well. The first soundtrack painted a vivid picture of a transformation from subdued outrage to gentle hope; this soundtrack contrasts wonderfully with its melodies from solitary desperation to panicking action to at last fulfillment.

If one is to think the first soundtrack shows the “beginning” and the “end”, then this soundtrack most definitely can be considered to be the “middle”. It is really interesting that the soundtrack artist, Kanno Youko,/creators decided to release the soundtrack that way. Why that is for certain, I cannot say, but I speculate the reason may be how the first and the last episode tie so well together. In the beginning of the first episode, we are shown a world heavily dependent on technology, but also blissfully ignorant. At the end of the last episode, the world is back to its dependence on technology—but what is different? The “enlightenment” of the peoples. What happened between those two events are important in their own right, and I believe that the creators wanted to show us that.

And so, without further ado, let us jump into the analysis.

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First starting off: the cover of the soundtrack. The first soundtrack had a picture of a crow/raven, while this one’s album art is a picture of an unknown rock specimen. I believe this is to show a “heaven and earth” duality in the show—Nine’s transcendent “in the clouds” ideals vs. Twelve’s growing affinity with “the earth” aka the people (mainly Lisa). When considering what kind of mineral, element, or rock this specimen could be, I believe it accurately represents the multiple sides of Sphinx.

Countless times we are shown black birds in the opening and even in the final episode. Birds are a constant reoccurring theme in this show, but are mostly associated with Nine. What about Twelve? From previous analyses we theorize that they have symbolic significance. However it is hard to notice the other potential significance. As I have more or less gone into in my chemical analysis, there could be some chemical significance in the show as well. Connecting that, I believe that this rock is meant to be the element Lithium (or at least the crystalized, fantasy-like version of lithium—as quartz lithium is in actuality a pinkish color). The reason why is because the rock appears to have a metallic luster and varying shades of grey to black-ish color. It’s crystal structure initially threw me off and made me believe it could also be another different type of rock (which it very well could be), but taking into consideration Lisa’s connection with the element Lithium, how important lithium is in nuclear physics, and how if the bird cover is meant to relate to Nine then we can relate this cover to Twelve, then this becomes much more likely. When lithium is cut, it’s metallic luster turns to a dull silver before eventually fading to black, which is what this rock appears to be doing. This in a way can show Lisa’s transformation from a “white” innocent to wanting to become a “black” terrorist. Another important thing to note is lithium is an element that all organisms have trace amounts in. It’s something that we all have in common and in a sense binds us together. While Nine was “taking flight” in pursuit of his goal, Twelve was finding something in common with Lisa.

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The first title of the soundtrack, “kvak”, translates directly from Icelandic to mean “twitter”. This is not so much twitter in the social media sense, but more of like the twittering of birds. This is a variation of “fugl” which means “bird”. The “twittering” can be most attributed to the beginning of the song where the hurried pattering of notes most resembles that of a bird’s. These two songs play during scenes with Lisa, and can be most affiliated with her. This could represent her assimilation into Sphinx, and that she feels like a caged bird desiring to be free. You could argue that this could have connection to Twitter as that was one of the main media outlets Sphinx utilized during the “information bomb”, but this song doesn’t quite fit with that.

The second song, “crystalized” is also the subtitle of the album (Zankyou No Terror OST -crystalized-). This begs the question: after such a focus on birds, why are we looking to crystals/rocks when they are never explicitly mentioned or shown? Once again, I believe this is supposed to be a more subtle allusion to the “heaven and earth” duality. It is easy to constantly focus on the heavens and ideals, but the life and world on earth can be something we often take for granted. Back to the meaning of “crystalized”, when something is crystalized, they are forming crystals as a result of a precipitation of some sort. This song is featured during the airport incident, and gives off a sense of urgency and action. It is possible to believe that the song title represents something about to come about as a result of this incident—something will “precipitate”. As a result of this incident, a lot of things result as a consequence. On one hand, it could relate to Lisa as she is helping Nine and Twelve and therefor allowing them to “beat” Five. However as a consequence Five receives information on Lisa and it goes downhill from there. Shibazaki becomes fully involved in this as well and manages to stop Five at gunpoint, but in return he is put on “indefinite leave”. Nine and Twelve go to disarm the bomb and they manage to divert it before anything could happen, but because it exploded Sphinx was unavoidably tied to that explosion. These two episodes are a cultivating point of the series where a lot of different factors and influences came together and precipitated into a much grander circumstance, and I believe the title of this song does well to show us that.

For this next track, “cket”, it was puzzling at first. It doesn’t translate into anything in any language, nor is it an acronym that stands for anything. I therefore concluded (possibly incorrectly), that “cket” is only part of a word and the whole word is actually meant to be “racket”. But why leave out the “ra-“? First of all, to look into the meaning of racket. Most commonly “racket” is defined to be loud noises. In this song, you can conclude that is one side of the song as there are a lot of instruments coming into play, coming together in a mix of sounds at the climax of the song. However another, less common definition of racket is a form of organized crime where one is to claim that they can only solve an issue/problem and only them, and if they did not exist then the problem would never be solved—but in actuality they have their own goal and pretends to try to solve the issue without actually doing so. Who does this sound like? Five. She is called in and she says she is the only person who can combat Sphinx (really, Nine), and therefore they have no choice but to rely on her and her methods to catch Sphinx. However, she has her own plan and goals, and has to constantly be reminded by Clarence that she needs to focus on her given task. In fact, this song is played during Five’s interaction with Nine. But why is the “ra-” missing? Because this isn’t quite so evident at first. Five’s methods are unconventional, but her motives are still hidden from most people. However her methods stand out enough to make people question, which is why the word is only partially hidden, as her goals are only partially hidden as well.

This next track was rather interesting to look at. Like “lolol” is played during Nine’s flashback/moment of trauma, this song, “ioloi” is played during Five’s moments. Like “cket”, these two do not have any translation in any sense or form. Therefore this time, I decided to look at it from a completely new perspective. Instead of looking at the two as words, I looked at them as I would a picture. We have two “o”s separated by “l”s, and in the other they are “i”s. If we look at the “l”s as walls, then we could say Nine is still somewhat holding up, but Five’s are starting to come down. She is also the first one to deteriorate the quickest and let the stress get to her the most. Or perhaps we could see the “l”’s as walls and the “o” and “i”s to represent the four children. In this case, starting off we have the “o”s: Nine and Twelve, who shut themselves off from the rest of the world. As the story progresses, Lisa and Five, the “i”s, are brought into the mix. The series later “pairs up” (romantically and/or platonically) the children with Nine&Five and Twelve&Lisa, with the division between the two pairs becoming clearer. There are a lot of ways to look at these song titles, but this is my theory on those two soundtrack titles.

“Wilhelm” is rather interesting soundtrack title. There isn’t a translation, however there is a very popular sound effect used in many movies and shows known as the “Wilhelm Scream”, which is used during when someone is shot, falling, or there is an explosion. Our key word in this case is “explosion”. This song is played during the more-action oriented scenes right before an explosion is about to happen. Therefore this could be the composer’s amusing way of creating her own ironic version “Wilhelm Scream” as the way the scream was meant to be used: to create suspense and tension.

Personally, one of my most anticipated tracks would be “velle”, which is played right before the explosion. As gone into a little more detail in a previous analysis, this is beautifully accented by a chorus of child-like voices, perhaps to represent the children who had died as a result of the Athena Project. “Velle” means “will” in Latin, and this sound could reflect the “will” of the children that Nine and Twelve sought to take on. It is hard to understand the words the song is saying until a translation comes out, but as some have pointed out (and I do agree) at some points they are saying “kyrie eleison” which means “Lord, have mercy”. The experiments that the children underwent during the project must have been brutal and torturous, in which I am sure many of the children called out for mercy whether to God or to the scientists. The plan that Nine and Twelve have worked so hard for finally comes together in this last explosion, this final moment where everything truly “comes to light” and made known.

Seemingly a mesh of letters, “orfn” in itself is a little unusual. There is no translation for this word, however it could potentially refer to the graffiti artist Orfn, who is known for his childish pieces that usually depict sleeping children or death-alluding images. This flows well with the song, as it seems that the main instrument used in this song is a xylophone; usually, the xylophone is associated with one’s childhood. The children of the Athena Plan did not have a normal childhood—it was filled with chaos and unrest, much like this track here. The plan has not been carried out yet, so in a way the “will of the children” (connecting to ‘velle’), is still sleeping in a death-like sleep, ready to be awakened in time.

“Juno” is played arguably during the most uncomfortable scene in the entire series. This scene was very much out of place, showing Nine, Twelve, and Lisa as who they actually are—teenagers. This song does a wonderful job of creating that sense of uncomfortableness, telling us that indeed this is rather unnatural. But why “juno”? Juno is known as the Roman goddess equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera, and most commonly referred to as the “Queen” of all the gods and goddesses. While Juno is considered to be the “protector and counselor”, she is also linked to youthfulness, energy, and purity. Therefore it is easier to see the connection between the song title for both this song and the scene this is played. The three are finally acting like children and are full of energy again. They can act like the pure, innocent children they never had the opportunity to be, and this song helps set this tone.

The next track, “wolke”, has an unique “twang” to it that is not really heard in most of the tracksm yet still feels like it is part of the soundtrack. “Wolke” means “cloud” in Greman, but more commonly refers to steam/ash/smoke rather than the cloud you see in the sky. This song is played during Shibazaki’s detective work. Shibazaki, at that point, has been struggling to figure out the mind of Sphinx so he could better understand Sphinx’s true motive. However, progress is moving rather slowly and unfruitfully. Nine has done a rather cleaver way to keep himself as transparent as possible, like steam. Yet Shibazaki is looking to when that white steam becomes black smoke, and finally get a grasp on the situation, but it slips right through his fingers.

“Alois” was one of the more research-intensive soundtrack titles of this track. Assuming that “Alois” is meant to allude to a name, it could refer to a multitude of people. In this instance, I have narrowed it down to two people. Firstly: Alois Alzheimer, who was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist. As pharmaceuticals were involved in the creation of artificial savant abilities, it is likely this soundtrack title has something to do with him. During the scenes this song is played, we have Nine and Twelve taking action and therefor using their abilities. Alois Alzheimer is also credited for first discovering the disease which will be later named in his namesake. It is notable that Nine would later say as his final words “remember that we lived”. All the actions they have taken have been dynamic enough that they cannot be forgotten and must be investigated. Even so, Sphinx would still be remembered as an entity rather than individuals. The second, more loosely connected “Alois” is Alois Riehl. He was a German philosopher who believed rather than focusing on a world view, we should be critical of the world around us and how we percieve things (aka: things aren’t always as they seem). In this case, it connects well with how Nine and Twelve had been trying to cut off Tokyo/Japan from the rest of the world at least technologically. Rather than have external, international influences they wanted people to question the government and the lives they had been living, for not everything is as great and incorruptible as it seemed.

“Future terror” is pretty straightforward. This is played during the “intermediary” scenes before a big event is about to transpire, foreshadowing the next destructive event.

Like “wolke”, “vad” is played during the scene where Shibazaki goes out and looks into Sphinx. In this case, Shibazaki is looking into the places Sphinx had once been to better understand their “heritage”, yet missing the Settlement: the most important place of all. “Vad” translates from Swedish to mean “wager” or “appeal”. We can tie this to “appeal” more than “wager”; through Shibazaki visiting the different places, Sphinx in a way is making an “appeal” to Shibazaki in Shibazaki’s eyes. Also, VAD can stand for ventricular assist device, which is used to pump blood through the heart. Shibazaki in this instance is trying to get to the true “heart” of the matter. This is a rather loose and poorly constructed connection, but I thought I’d throw that out there.

The track “pcp” is certainly one of the darkest, if not the darkest track of the soundtrack. As PCP stands for a very dangerous drug, phencyclidine, the track title and the song itself go hand in hand almost perfectly. PCP is a dissociative hallucinogenic drug that, if taken, results in mania, schizophrenia, and amnesia. This track, setting a dark tone with the occasional creak or human-like whisper, does well to try to recreate the “mood” of the drug. Furthermore, if taken in too high a dose, this drug could result in seizures, comas, or even death. This is very similar to what we see happen to Five and Nine, and makes me wonder if this is the composer/creators’ way of exhibiting how dangerous the drugs used in the Athena Plan actually were, and/or to demonstrate how dangerous Sphinx and Five were.

The second to last track, “vial” I would argue to be strangely titled. A vial is a container used for medicines and sometimes perfumes. Could this be to show the duality of Five as both a woman and a result of medical “innovation”? More than likely this is a direct medical allusion to show the results of the Athena Plan manifesting in Nine and Twelve, however.

Here we are to the final track: “elan”. At first, it seemed like a word translating from Azerbaijani, but if you add an accent on the “e” to be élan, it translates from French to mean “spirit” and “enthusiasm”. Why the accent was left out could be another form of a hidden meaning like “cket”. This track was played during the explosion of the high altitude nuclear bomb, with everyone looking up at the sky in wonder. At this point, no one except Nine and Twelve (and possibly Lisa), know the true meaning of the bomb—how it represents their own spirit and the spirit of the Settlement children who had died before them. This is why I believe the accent was left off, for it was not obvious to the rest of the world what it meant except those who were “on the inside”—likewise as members of the fandom we know to look into even the smallest details to divulge the true (potentially) meaning of these tracks.

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As a usual disclaimer, this is all speculation and theories. There could be many other explanations left to be considered; nothing can be known for certain unless otherwise confirmed by the creators/composer. Even so, one thing is for certain, like much the series, this is another well-crafted puzzle the creators have left for us. 

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