a promise in the sky

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a promise in the sky

Author Comments

Today's prompt is "spectrum."

I am going Hard Mode on this prompt, as the term has a few different meanings, all of which bear weight to me. I will only be talking about two of them.

A rainbow forming in the sky in the midst of a rain shower (especially on a spring day) always brings me joy, even if I know it is ephemeral. The moment it forms, and the moment I look at it -- these stay with me forever. I have captured some pictures of rainbows and double rainbows in my time before they disappeared. As such, I've made it a tender song, to express that ephemeral joy and brightness, and also the sad understanding that it physically doesn't last -- but also the hope within me that it points towards things that do last.

And -- this is where Hard Mode kicks in -- I mentioned in a thread I'd created that I label certain instrument families with different colours. I made sure to use each colour in the spectrum when composing this, but because I'm terrified of even agitating the neighbours, I've had to rely on a MIDI guitar and BBCSO / VSCO / Flex percussions instead of playing my own strings and percussion. So, in order of spectrum colours:

Red: cymbals, windchimes
Orange: bowed strings
Yellow: horns
Green: piano, harp
Turquoise: melodic synth
Blue: guitar
Indigo: basses
Violet: piccolos, flutes, oboe, bassoon
Magenta: xylophone, glockenspiel

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RealTin3Sn

2024-09-14 14:21:15

A colourful, beautiful, and wonderful piece in every way imaginable.

I think this song has one of the best orchestrations I've ever heard on Newgrounds, quite possibly in any song ever. It is so very cohesive and lyrical yet changes so much in under 2 minutes (note how you use the instruments for their colours here and not just their sound). It is so complex and specific yet is light at the same time, never coming across as suffocating in its beauty. If I may say this it is a slice of heaven.

As for the rainbow theme you absolutely nailed it. I have synaesthesia so I can understand how instruments and colours relate better on a more personal level, and I can safely say that you did an *extremely* good job on your choice and use of instruments here even though I may not totally agree with your own assessment. In fact, this is one of a very few songs I've heard where a specific image and theme is captured absolutely perfectly. This is not even the slightest of exaggerations. I could practically feel the rainbow shining through the clouds and rain despite it being sunny where I live.

Lastly I completely agree with you about the symbol rainbow. It is one of the most poignant representations of how life doesn't last, yet your memories always will. This piece is a very beautiful reminder of the joys of life.

Sorry for the long review, but I had a lot to say. What a masterpiece. 5/5, 10/10, favorite forever.

PS:

Troisnyx, do you mind if next year, I review all the songs on tesserakoste on each of their associated days of Lent?

Troisnyx responds:

Thanks for the heartfelt thoughts 🙏🏽 I don't mind, feel free to do so (although, on the day that this falls on, I suggest replacing it with The Drummer's Prayer instead, as it was originally meant to be a song for this album).

CIEIRMusic

2021-03-23 10:10:26

Like yourself, when I first started out, I tried to give each instrument a persona of their own. Thank you for reminding me of what that was like.

Diamondpro333

2021-03-23 08:58:40

I listened to it about 5 times... what a beautiful song.

Skullchase15

2021-03-23 08:55:42

So, I would like to use this song in a game. Is that ok with you?

Troisnyx responds:

Let's talk about it via PM, shall we? I'd like to know more about it, and how far along you are with its development.

javamen7