At first glance, I assumed that
Moisture with Music Box was an album full of Plone-style cutesy IDM or maybe some type of Joanna Newsom-esque folksy singer-songwriter girl who sings about beans and flowers and plays on the trailer of Hollywood's newest "indie" film with cartoony writing and blatant pandering to hip teenagers with references to The Shins or Sonic Youth (I'm looking at you, Garden State and Juno, respectively). So I was pleasantly surprised (and a little concerned) when the first three tracks of Yuko Ikoma's "cover album" had the same titles as some of Erik Satie's piano works, as well as Chopin's. What do you know, they all did.
I feel that this can adequately sum up the concept of the album, what with the title, album cover, and description of the track names. This is Erik Satie's, Chopin's, and her own music played through a music box using a piano roll. Some of the tracks on the album, such as the Gymnopedies, ring with a certain sentimental quality that can only be created by perfect replication of the reverberation and sustain of the notes.
Although Ikoma accomplishes much in the way of quality and concept, some of these works could not be transcribed to music box and carry the same weight and enjoyability. For example, Berceuse by Chopin, which literally translates to cradle song, does not sound as full or strong on a music box as piano. My hypothesis is because, since this is a lullaby, and music boxes are traditionally associated with childhood, it sounds like nothing more than a music box playing. It carries nothing special, like the way you don't appreciate a cover song if you don't know the original song.
Overall, I felt lucky to have stumbled upon this album because it is very reliable with what it does. Tonight may not be the first time the songs of Impressionist piano player Erik Satie have put me to sleep, but tonight they will sound more cheerful than usual.
Good night.
I can't seem to make an entry without commenting on how it's been a while since I've written in my journal or blog. Well today I'm going to do that. I'll make it short because I have plans and the only thing standing before them was pizza, and now there's nothing. I came up with a little song yesterday. It's nothing special and not really that creative, but I was just trying new sounds that aren't 8 bit or chiptune related. Needless to say that was a difficult task.
