Lord Skye - Domain Of Spirits (Haunted House)

Hear The Track Here

Fourth time around for Lord Skye who, it has to be said, hasn't fared too well at my hands during the previous three tracks I've come into contact with. Part of that has to be down to my own ambivalence to the whole games soundtrack thing which I've never seen the point of - unless of course you happen to be playing the game its in. Still, no matter because I do try to put my predjudice aside when listening to a peice of music in a genre I don't normally care for and I'm sure Lord Skye has taken that into account when reading my reviews. See, the one thing that I think I'd really hate as a reviewer is to put someone off making music - after all it should be fun first and foremost right? A review is merely an opinion and usually a passing opinion at that. Some artists just take longer to register is all.

What is apparent from past experience is that what Lord Skye puts together is very interesting, it's setting less so.

'Creepy, unsettling ambience' is what Lord Skye calls Domain Of Spirits and I'd have to say he would be on the money with that and it again shows that this artist has the musical chops to deliver. Being, essentially, a short (its only a couple of minutes) slice of dark, moody electronica, it's arrangement is its main feature and - as such - does create the required unsettled creepiness. More to the point, it sounds surprisingly good, especially with the cello sound which carries the main impact of the track. Fact is, if that cello sound wasn't right on the money this track wouldn't have worked at all. In my opinion of course. It's that little detail that enables this track to fully register with a listener. More so, of course, if they liked the genre in the first place.

I must admit it is nice to be able to write about a Lord Skye track without having to rip the man a new butthole because his sounds stink, but even so I feel that the slightness of the track and its arrangement and the extremely narrow niche of games soundtrack will not win this track any new listeners. That is a shame because I found Domain of Spirits to be a likeable, listenable track for all its slightness and loose arrangement. Now all I need, and no doubt Lord Skye is sighing as I speak, is that he can ally a decently full peice with the same sounds and we'll be well on the way to seeing eye to eye. Fact is, I've always liked what this artist is doing musically so now that he has his sounds worked out I expect much bigger things. And that, as always, is the catch with upping your game.

A very decent, if slight, electronica soundscape full of unsettled creepiness. ;D