Solacitude's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Silent Mist]

This is simply beautiful! Words sometimes couldn't explain the feelings evoked by a song or a piece, I think it's testament of high level of musicality that I find in this one. It brought a tear to my eyes, and filled my heart with warm feeling. It's a sad and nostalgic song, but it also evokes the feeling of being missed, being appreciated no matter the hardship, the distance. There is this "equivocal" feeling in nostalgic thoughts. It's like sadness charged with positive emotions. I feel it strongly in this song. Both music and lyrics evoke nostalgia, it makes it that much more powerful.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Why thank you, Solacitude! You write such beautiful compositions that it means a lot to hear this piece made you feel emotional <3

[Voyage by Starlight]

I really like this approach as well, especially when inspiration is lacking.
Starting very simple and limiting choices helps focusing on musicality.
Then make it evolve while keeping the essence of the original theme.
You're very good at orchestrating your ideas and making coherent evolutions of those themes!

HollandAlbright responds:

Thanks so much! It became a good exercise in arranging a theme in different ways. Simplicity can really help with creativity sometimes, and agree re limiting choices. :)

[The 3rd Piano's Dream]

I'm sure you get into a nice place when playing these pieces.
Your mind speaks through your music, I really like your style, simple and beautiful, emotionally engaging.

WouterPiano responds:

Yes i do, i hear music in my mind all the time. Hope to make more music! Thanks!

[Narrate]

Lovely piece!
I'm just discovering you, you got some quite nice compositions.
I love the way you use dynamic and play with tempo. Mix is clean. Simple and beautiful.

I would use more rubato between phrases in the first half, like at 30-31s, 50s leading to higher note, around 1:17. But it's really just a matter of personal taste. Piano is such a beautiful instrument! Have you been playing the piano for a long time? This piece has a an improvisational feel to it, quite nice choice of harmonies. You're very talented!

WouterPiano responds:

Thank you very much! I play piano from 4 years old and now im allmost 35. Allso done musical education and perform allmost weekly in my neighborhood. At home i play dayly. Its a real passion for me. Thanks for listening!!

[Life Anew [NGADM]]

Very nice!
I'm not a big fan of cabaret music in general, but you master it in a beautiful enough fashion to hold my attention until the end. You have a voice that fits magically well with it! The effects also add this typical flavor we find in many songs in this genre. What you did here is on par with what I would expect from a professional musical production. Hats off to you!

trixelbit responds:

You know, I really struggled with assigning a genre to my songs. This one especially. I never heard of cabaret music till your comment but searching either gives me clips from a movie or a playlist with Frank Sinatra, and im not sure which is defining of the genre.

If you got a song from that genre, please send a link, I'm curious!

I'm really glad you enjoyed the song though! I will certainly be taking that hat since I've lost hair from completing this lol

[Untinted]

Nice job! I like the thematic you associate with it. It often only takes a little bit of perspective, and the darkness can turn into light.

There's a funny vibe to it, I would see this in a cartoon, alternating between different scenes to fit the flavor of the current mode.

Everratic responds:

Thank you! Yeah it has a whimsical, cartoony vibe.

[There's a Battle in the Owl Forest]

Very well done! Quite unique, lots of originality, it often lacks in cinematic music.
It sounds good all the way, everything merge well, that's a high potential for NGUAC top placements for sure!

etherealwinds responds:

Wow, what a kind comment. That means a lot, especially coming from you, so thank you! Your track this round was definitely one of the standouts for me, personally. <3

[Crystallis Ultima]

Very nice ambiance moving along very well through the different passages.
Your passion for music can be heard in every single note. Very good job!

HollandAlbright responds:

Thank you! ♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬

[Just something chill]

Cool loop! Nice groove going on. Unquantized is so much better to give a human feel.
It's all the little imperfections that makes the music sound human.
I think there is a huge advantage to explore outside of quantization for any style of music.
For me it's pretty much a given that I never use it, with piano style with lots of freedom regarding tempo :) But for you I hope it unlocks a world of new possibilities! I'm sure it will!

OVERSCORE responds:

Unquantization does give things a more human feel, but I probably don’t need as much in the future (this was just an excessive hard swing vibe that I wanted).
With my future music setup I plan to do some tracks where I just play the whole thing on my keyboard, and I really look forward to doing some ad lib

[Because We Miss You]

One of the most difficult things in life, letting go of people we love. Sorry for your loss.

This is my favorite of all the piano pieces I listened from you. I truly love each one of them, it feels authentic, it's not just notes, to me it's phrases that express your mind in a meaningful way. I feel the sadness of the event, but also cheerful memories of a wonderful, loving and delicate person. Very beautiful and touching piece.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

<3 <3 <3

Sorry, I never ended up responding to this earlier! I really appreciate your kind words. I intend to reply to your messages soon; I've just been super busy lately, but I know you already understand :p

Either way, congratulations on passing through to the next round! I am looking forward to seeing what you create next :3

I feel like you've really understood this piece! It's a sure sign of great musical empathy. It's a very important piece to me.