By Drew Wilson
This review covers the ambient downtempo track Kmotiv – Something on the Wing.
This particular track was released in 2004 as part of the album The Abstraction Agenda.
The element most dominant in this track is the acoustic guitar. There’s no strumming that I could hear, but a lot of other sounds was taken care of via numerous layered electronica elements.
One element I really thought was interesting was the unique reverberation effect I hear in the rimshot. It’s not the standard reverb effect that gradually fades out, nor is it a delay effect. Instead, it’s a reverb effect with an unusual stutter going on. To this day, this is definitely not an effect I hear that often at all. What surprises me is that, even though it’s a rare thing to hear in music, it works so well as an effect even though it is subtle. This, admittedly, really tickles my creative music producer side as I never really considered using this technique in a track before.
As a general music listener, I really like the pads you hear in the beginning. This gives a very calming effect in the overall listening experience long before you even get to the acoustic guitar portions of this track.
The acoustic guitar throughout the track was also a nice element. With so many ways one can produce an acoustic guitar sound, the sound of the fingers sliding on the strings gives this track a very authentic sound. I think this track is well named because there is almost this angelic feel to this track. It relaxes you. It calms you. There’s very little, if anything, that is dirty or edgy to this track. It is very soft on the ears and it’s extremely easy to picture soft white feathery wings when listening to this track.
I will say that there is one thing I can offer as a critique to the track. The guitars are nicely varied throughout most of the track. Unfortunately, from 3:31 to 4:33, you get the same melody over and over again. While there is a little variance in percussion towards the beginning, it does get a little repetitive as you’ve heard this same melody in a number of other parts in the track. I would say adding a little bit of the variance in the guitar heard earlier in the track to the end would’ve helped make this track a little better, but that sense of repetition I get is minor.
Overall, this is a really nice track. The levels are nicely done. Nothing really gets drowned out and nothing really jumps out at me that says something is badly out of tune. So, a great track all around and great for adding a relaxing mood.
Score
8/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85
