Shadowrunner - The Underneath

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Shadowrunner’s “The Underneath” delves into the complex dreamlands which exist in the world’s liminal spaces. Displaying a compelling richness and vibrancy, the album draws listeners into the world it weaves. Shadowrunner uses skill and emotion to bring together synth sounds with a sensibility that moves from classical elements to more ambient Soundscapes. In combination with finely crafted melodies, this voyage through the Underneath is one which I'd like to take over and over again.

A lushly interlaced series of sonic vignettes fill "The Underneath”and imbue it with a fountain of feeling and atmosphere. Each of the well-thought-out pieces brings together a fascinating array of synth colours and textures with a composition that emphasizes melody and emotion, painting them with care and tenderness. Desolation and beauty coexist in this music, drawing together all of the disparate threads that make up the strands of our lives. Moving melancholy permeates the sound and engages the listener further in Shadowrunner's creation.

The moods and imagery of “The Underneath” are evoked with clarity and intense sonic artistry through the careful work of Shadowrunner. Each track transports me to strange and eerily beautiful places that hover just out of our own world but not quite in the next. Soundscapes drench me in incredibly detailed visions of dream states. As the music tells its tale, the listener will find themselves plunged into Shadowrunner's world and transported from ordinary reality.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Shoreline” is touched by waves splashing on a smooth beach with a halo of pink light and a poem which captures mystery and beauty in equal measure. The narrator’s recitation has an otherworldly quality, as if spoken from some parallel dimension while the background is full of a misty sheen.

The supporting tones give off a jeweled, polished sensation while the jazz organ and the piano calls to mind an atmosphere full of aching emotion as tiny flickers give off firefly luminosity. Twisting sounds add to the extra dimensional feelings as the hushed piano and rich jazz organ mix into one effortless flow before concluding.

A mysterious and beautiful place is evoked by “City of Forgotten Shadows” as wispy synth tones slowly circle and deep notes swell. The lead synth is dreamy and gauzy, gliding out with surrounding emotion. The slowly revolving synth conjures a meditative respite as a glowing note pattern flows out.

Ticking percussion moves as the broadly warming synth conveys a peaceful, pensive melody while the sound of waves washes in the distance. The sound of crickets chirping blends in as the richly intertwining synth brings tranquility.

Piano-like notes flit like fireflies as the main melody calls out, allowing me to slow my breathing, close my eyes, exhale and focus. Azure light permeates the layers as a widely swirling synth lifts me and the track ends on steady softness.

A growing field of brightness and a driving drum beat combine as “Endless Doors, Endless Dreams” commences with a rounded jazz organ that echoes with cool relaxation. A piano dances like soft tendrils while the lyrics capture a sense of magic and the piano floats past.

The lush vocals drift as an organic xylophone skips with ease and rich notes slip past. The vocals are caressing as they carry the wistful words, capturing the melancholy of passing time. The drum beat presses forward as the piano exudes soft twilight.

The drums trip lightly and the vocals capture my imagination while the throbbing beat is touched by sensitive piano. A reverberating synth trembles with calming softness while the xylophone adds a woodsy depth. Wordless vocals are burnished by sailing metallic notes before it grows silent.

“Garden of the Abyss” captures a fae voice that sings with haunting notes before the barest flutter of a breeze adds a tentative sound as the hissing percussion joins full sounding tones transporting a melody which feels timeless and from another realm.

The vocals brush with unbelievable fragility and a melody that reflects beauty from a world outside of our own. Encouragement flows from the lead singer’s kind and affectionate tones, offering love and support.

The climbing notes crescendo with impressive strength and no little measure of tranquility, containing the seeds of further growth, carrying me into the exotic garden of the song's title. The composition blossoms with more confidence and a tracery of cobwebs catches dewy notes before stopping.

A lacy tonal pattern ripples outward in a single breath as “The Rain on My Window” becomes a tender meditation as Dora Pereli's finally woven voice delivers a melody which is as light as the barest summer breeze. Echoing sounds float, skimming as the arpeggios circle and a synth calls out with vibrating gentleness.

Dora Pereli speaks to me with her complete serenity and the ache that moves through her voice while the percussion adds more form. Far off motifs glow and hover and the anchoring arpeggios tremble before the vocals mingle heartbreak and hope, carried by Dora Pereli's powerfully emotional voice. A feeling of release, in spite of the loss in the vocals, flows before a synth glides with cobwebby lightness to finish the piece.

Wondering "can a heart be too heavy to carry up the hill from the old cemetery?" as the rain pours down, the storyteller ponders if the song's subject was "the only one who ever really saw me at all." She muses that the years pass when she lays her head down and stares at the ceiling above her bed.

She asks if the other person is “the rain on my window, the clouds in the sky and the shadows that follow the breeze through the leaves in the trees.” As she falls to her knees, she lets the other person carry her home.

Asking "can a life be too heavy to shoulder?" The narrator feels the years passing like mileage under her as the winters grow colder. She adds, "we'll watch the world pass us by, staring out the passenger side as our children get older." She concludes by saying that “just when I stepped over the ledge, I felt the wind pull me back from the edge. "

“Violet//Per Tenebras” slips into being with a piano that touches with tentative, smooth expression and a deep calm which also conveys melancholy, feeling me with a meditative sense of nostalgia and dreams of times gone by. A synth is wrapped in sunset light while the piano breathes out with a sense of abiding affection.

Another synth exhalation adds layers of expression with a cello that brings its darker, more surrounding feel into the melody. A piano sails past as the cello throbs, transmitting mournful emotion as higher sounds echo. The piano builds rippling sensations while the cello cries out with intense feeling.

Free-floating ease comes over me as shadowy echoes evoke deep water. A burst of sound flows like upwelling currents while a flute glides past. Quickly flickering sounds evoke oceanic depths with flashing dynamism to bring everything to a close.

Waves wash on a distant shore and far off sonorities swell with auroral brightness as “Ad Lucem” embarks on its musical journey, wandering into unending calm. A clockwork piano and a flute mingle create an atmosphere of abiding loneliness and affection as a chime sparkles with a tentative sheen and the flute transmits a melody that moves me with its wistful emotion. Seagulls cry above the waves and repose descends on my mind.

Conclusion

“The Underneath” is an impactful sensory experience, drawing me into spaces that are ethereal and emotionally gripping with the skillful use of synths and performances that are heartfelt and complex.

Synth Single Review: “Find A Way Back Home” by Megan McDuffee & ALEX

by Karl Magi

Megan McDuffee & ALEX’s “Find A Way Back Home” bursts with forcefully hammering underpinnings as Megan McDuffee's voice drifts like a spectre through lonely halls, her voice trailing like a diaphanous shroud. A rushing underlayer balances floating vocals that conjure emptiness and abandonment while the sweeping synthesizer lines subtly support the painful message in the lyrics.

The rhythm is insistent as the soundscape adds hurting depth and supports Megan McDuffee's voice as it grasps me with feelings of loss and desperate wanting. The track is touched by a guitar that shivers like a ghost in the vaulted chambers of an ancient castle while the low end throbs. Broken emotions and tragic sensations permeate the background as it slips with tendrils of misty light. The beat is a metronomic pulse has the vocals hover like an ethereal spirit before the song comes to an end with haunting softness.

Saying she'd "give up all the pieces inside my soul for you" and erase the song subject’s ending while turning back the days, our storyteller inhales and exhales with an understanding that she has to continue on. She promises to "whisper your name" as she finds herself "sunken into grey, just an echo in the glass" and she misses the other person terribly.

With the ability to feel the song’s subject everywhere, the narrator wonders if she'll ever find her way back home. "Wandering in my thoughts, twisting shapes all climb the walls, throwing shadows amidst the light." It's impossible for her to explain her pain at the realization that the other person is gone. She asks, "So how do I sense your touch on my skin each night?"

Once more, our storyteller finds herself engulfed by grey, "following my halted step" as she keenly feels the other person's loss. She can sense the other person everywhere "haunting every page and stone." She wants the song’s subject to "let me find a way back home." Although she desires the other person endlessly, it's impossible and she adds, "I don't want to need to let you go. "

On misty mornings, the narrator visits the place where the other person ought to be in order to "hold the roughness of your loam" and concludes that she feels in "equal measures the fear and the comfort of your ghost and knowing I'm never alone."

Synth Single Review: “Legacy of Terror” by DROIDGLOW

by Karl Magi

DROIDGLOW’s “Legacy of Terror” explodes into life with unrelenting, forceful darkness and a sense of impending doom that is undeniable before the leaping foundation rockets with ferocious strength as the notes above cry out with barely restrained fear.

A high synth spills blinding light that balances the slashing underlayer before a melody captures majesty and danger in equal measure as the guitar cuts cleanly. The guitar melody is speedy and fierce, ripping at the music with hungry fangs while the low end accelerates.

A note pattern spins with uncomfortable feelings, like something waiting to strike in the shadows, while the bass and percussion hits hard. The synth gleams with a deadly beauty as it carries the melody with surprising softness and delicately fades as breezy notes drift.

I enjoy the contradictory sensations that fill me as the heavy underlayer punches me in the gut and almost reverent notes rise. The guitar howls with ghostly strength, a spirit drifting through the darkness before the track ends.

Synth Single Review: “Wall Street” by The Last Concorde

by Karl Magi

The Last Concorde’s “Wall Street” begins with exhaling notes tumbling in a pattern which creates a feeling of growing intensity and tension, reflecting the environment of a trading floor at the height of 1980’s greed. The repetitive pattern has a dynamic influence while gritty notes slice with adrenaline-pumping emotion before the forceful drums explode into a pounding beat.

Repeating panpipe notes tremble with growing excitement well the underlayer sweeps to create weight. The rhythm shapes floating notes that swirl with a breathy, silky sensation above the gigantic underpinnings as darkness tinges the music. A circular xylophone pattern creates feelings of dramatic events happening to galvanize me.

The main melody creates an electric thrill mingled with a hint of something more dangerous. Images of power suits and ruthless boardroom action permeate the music. Ominous tones climb below twirling notes to evoke unending stress. A constant feeling of competition and cutthroat activity fills the music as the track glides to an end.