Venetian Snares - My Downfall (Original Soundtrack) (Planet Mu)
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
Although Venetian Snares doesn't seem to have a problem keeping up his 3 albums a year work ethic, there does occasionally come along quite an important one. My Downfall is the follow up to Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletet, and I know I'm not the only person who thinks that could well be his best album. Unfortunately, this means that My Downfall begs to be compared to it, and I'm not the sort of person that can resist that temptation.
And it isn't as good. Let's just get that out there. It's just not. But that still leaves a lot of scope for this album to be amazing.
The main characteristic common across these two records is the use of orchestral instruments, particularly strings - synthesised and sampled of course, but realistic sounding never the less. This results in a number of different experiments. There are of course the classic break-core tracks with string melodies over the top, but some really interesting layered cut and paste style arrangements of melodies also exist here.
The reason My Downfall doesn't surpass Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletet is firstly that the tracks don't follow on from each other in such a fantastic way that makes Rossz Csillag... a really nice, rounded piece to get lost in. The other thing that you may consider bad about My Downfall is that after hearing it you will often get tunes from Rossz Csillag... stuck in your head. This is undoubtedly because the tracks on My Downfall are not nearly as catchy, but in here lies the big difference - My Downfall is a much more tough album and in its way is a lot more intense because of it. You feel that Venetian Snares has taken it a lot further on this one, given that there are even less beats than there were on Rossz Csillag... and we even have here a track of choral singing. Even on the tracks with beats, the musical phrases are much longer and more complicated, which suggests to me that this is a record that will keep on giving, which is what I felt about the ultra non catchy and subsequently not so loved album Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding, which I still believe is a standout Venetian Snares album.
As required, it really does sound like a proper film score. The way that Mr. Aaron Funk (his real name!) has achieved this is really quite charming - the sorts of films he has referenced are wide and varied and therefore conjure up a vast range of imagery from 50's gangsters in New York to 70's conceptions of aliens. I would absolutely love Venetian Snares to do more soundtrack work if this is anything to go by, as I think that he more than has the ability to push these ideas further. It'd be a shame not to see how it would work out.
A lot of the best bits on this album are the insane, frantically layered string melodies going on sans percussion. I think this really is a unique way of writing music that people aren't going fully understand for years. I mean really, I know this'll sound corny, but all you classical geeks who complain that there are no good modern composers - they're right here, they really are. Something that is great about hearing Venetian Snares do more complex classical style melodic music is that sometimes he will hit you with a very typical Snares-like chord resolve which again makes for a completely unusual new type of sound that still makes sense.
Hopefully My Downfall will be the record to prove finally for once and for all Venetian Snares' incredible ability for melody.
Stream tracks from 'My Downfall' HERE.
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