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| Track list: 1. Theme From Antarctica 2. Antarctica Echoes 3. Kinematic 4. Song Of White 5. Life Of Antarctica 6. Memory Of Antarctica 7. Other Side Of Antarctica 8. Deliverance Running time: 45 minutes Released: 1983 |
Yet another soundtrack to a film I have not seen. I have predictions for what this will be like, based on the fact it is Vangelis (again), but no firm recollection of any of these themes.
The opening theme does not exactly conjure images of Antarctica to me; the notation is more Blade Runner mixed with China - a blend of sci-fi-ish structure and oriental-sounding melody. The combination is interesting and actually quite effective despite sounding odd in description. It is properly thematic, in that it really does sound like a main theme (actually it reminds me a lot of the end credits to Blade Runner, which came the year before), something that belongs with moving images. Appropriate, then!
Antarctica Echoes reaches forward in time rather than back. As it opens I am immediately put in mind of Voices, an album Vangelis would not make for another 12 years. Future echoes, then... before Red Dwarf did them. This is a much more empty track, cavernous sounding, making me wonder if it was to accompany scenes in an ice cave. There is definitely a sense of loneliness about it, which is another expected element of life in a white waste. This was good lazy-Sunday listening until Kinematic throws a buzzsaw in the mix. Not literally, but it is much more agitated - as you might expect from the title. Its basis is a repeated flutter and momentary synth blast combination that I really do not get on with as a mood changer.
I am a little surprised by how many of the sounds here sound as if they could be accompanying a documentary on rural China; it is probably my unaccustomed ears picking up stereotyped similarities rather than a true reflection of incorrect influences being used, right? That is my suspicion, anyway. Song of White is in that vein and returns to the lazy lightness. Then I IMDB'd the film and realise that it is a Japanese film following Japanese protagonists; the oriental influence is less surprising in context.
Life of Antarctica is at odds with its title, or seems so. There is no real sense of life - instead it seems to carry threat, menace - darker tones in places. Memory... has what I think is call back to the main theme and is a lighter piece. I have been bad, and was distracting myself with G+ communities as I absorb these tunes - running against the intent of the project. I find purely instrumental pieces very easy to tune in and out of without realising, and to be honest I find it hard to write too much about this soundtrack that is not a retread of opinions on Vangelis stated previously. I like his composition, generally. I like everything I have heard on Antarctica except Kinematic. Its just that after a while of listening to similarly themed pieces if I am not 100% engaged then my mind switches off a little and I find it difficult to add anything interesting to discussion. The "other side" is definitely different; it is all tense and disconnected, brooding. It broke the spell a little, stopped me staring at the screen blankly and has coincided with (caused?) a chill that has entered my extremities. That is either really effective composition, or a coincidence with the air temperature dropping in here (without the heating on at midday). Or I have just been sat in one place too long and my feet are feeling the draft a bit more.
I have been waiting 40 minutes to make a bad banjo joke and now I cannot think of one. Deliverance as it is here, needless to say, does not involve that instrument. I am not sure whether it is just the fact I know it is the last track, or if the song itself is constructed to strongly give that impression, but it certainly feels like an ending rather than a beginning or a middle. There is a celebratory air, an uplift. It is a good close to the disc and to this rather sub-par post. I consider cutting Kinematic, and then do, because I found it intolerable. The rest, though, I liked - in that kind of disconnected way when you cannot fully follow something but find yourself feeling good about it anyway.
The opening theme does not exactly conjure images of Antarctica to me; the notation is more Blade Runner mixed with China - a blend of sci-fi-ish structure and oriental-sounding melody. The combination is interesting and actually quite effective despite sounding odd in description. It is properly thematic, in that it really does sound like a main theme (actually it reminds me a lot of the end credits to Blade Runner, which came the year before), something that belongs with moving images. Appropriate, then!
Antarctica Echoes reaches forward in time rather than back. As it opens I am immediately put in mind of Voices, an album Vangelis would not make for another 12 years. Future echoes, then... before Red Dwarf did them. This is a much more empty track, cavernous sounding, making me wonder if it was to accompany scenes in an ice cave. There is definitely a sense of loneliness about it, which is another expected element of life in a white waste. This was good lazy-Sunday listening until Kinematic throws a buzzsaw in the mix. Not literally, but it is much more agitated - as you might expect from the title. Its basis is a repeated flutter and momentary synth blast combination that I really do not get on with as a mood changer.
I am a little surprised by how many of the sounds here sound as if they could be accompanying a documentary on rural China; it is probably my unaccustomed ears picking up stereotyped similarities rather than a true reflection of incorrect influences being used, right? That is my suspicion, anyway. Song of White is in that vein and returns to the lazy lightness. Then I IMDB'd the film and realise that it is a Japanese film following Japanese protagonists; the oriental influence is less surprising in context.
Life of Antarctica is at odds with its title, or seems so. There is no real sense of life - instead it seems to carry threat, menace - darker tones in places. Memory... has what I think is call back to the main theme and is a lighter piece. I have been bad, and was distracting myself with G+ communities as I absorb these tunes - running against the intent of the project. I find purely instrumental pieces very easy to tune in and out of without realising, and to be honest I find it hard to write too much about this soundtrack that is not a retread of opinions on Vangelis stated previously. I like his composition, generally. I like everything I have heard on Antarctica except Kinematic. Its just that after a while of listening to similarly themed pieces if I am not 100% engaged then my mind switches off a little and I find it difficult to add anything interesting to discussion. The "other side" is definitely different; it is all tense and disconnected, brooding. It broke the spell a little, stopped me staring at the screen blankly and has coincided with (caused?) a chill that has entered my extremities. That is either really effective composition, or a coincidence with the air temperature dropping in here (without the heating on at midday). Or I have just been sat in one place too long and my feet are feeling the draft a bit more.
I have been waiting 40 minutes to make a bad banjo joke and now I cannot think of one. Deliverance as it is here, needless to say, does not involve that instrument. I am not sure whether it is just the fact I know it is the last track, or if the song itself is constructed to strongly give that impression, but it certainly feels like an ending rather than a beginning or a middle. There is a celebratory air, an uplift. It is a good close to the disc and to this rather sub-par post. I consider cutting Kinematic, and then do, because I found it intolerable. The rest, though, I liked - in that kind of disconnected way when you cannot fully follow something but find yourself feeling good about it anyway.
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