💿💽 ENCODYA | An Original Soundtrack by Yann Latour | Vinyl Review 💿💽 @_YannLatour #vinylrecords #videogamemusic #videogamevinyl

I’ve covered a lot of records over the last few years, but ENCODYA stands out as one of the most memorable. An almost purely ambient release devoid -for the most part – of beats, drums or percussion, the layers of mood and scene are punctuated by guest spots of organic instrumentation that add character and identity whilst never deviating too far from the focus on melodic simplicity.

An album that really set me in a (much appreciated) zen-like state. Good.

Pressed on translucent, teal-coloured vinyl, the 10-track album clocks in at just over 36 minutes and features artwork by ENCODYA creator, Nicola Piovesan.

The artwork on the cover very much evokes the music within, a towering cityscape captured on a rainy evening, dotted with neon ads and hundreds of lit-up windows lighting up across the scene but a quiet absence of populace. The title font is captured in a bold white as, at the bottom of the cover is a simple and understated ‘An original soundtrack by Yann Latour’, printed in a font colour reminiscent of the vinyl itself. On the rear is a further, smaller image taking up the left side of two characters in the game – featured in silhouette only – huddled together under a small umbrella from the constant rain as they look out at the dark skyscrapers rising into the dreary night. At the top-centre are the words:

‘Neo Berlin

Where the eternal angels are

In eternal sleep

Forget the ones you love

To make ourselves numb

To the city

Where angels are asleep

Forget the ones

Neo Berlin’

Again, the dreamy tone of the wording ties in with the aural approach of the soundtrack itself. Below this is the tracklisting and credits of the album, and finally - the inner circle of both sides of the record again feature the two main characters from the game.

Usually, I focus on a detailed track-by-track breakdown of the records I cover but here, Yann Latour has created a record that seems to roll together as one, quite often more of an aural soundscape than separate pieces of music, although each still has its own identity. I just wanted to say that, upon receiving the album, I played it in the background to get a feel for it but ended up getting completely drawn in and spent the next four hours just flipping the record over and over, it was such a wonderful experience, getting hips deep into the music - it genuinely felt like it was washing over me and trying to seduce me into closing my eyes and getting lost in the images evoked by the tracks, a soothing and quietly engaging experience.

Side A:

Memories of the Future

Opening with warm, floating synth and echoing single piano notes as other sounds swirl, this feels like the listener is descending through clouds, the foggy cityscape revealed to them for the first time - expansive, looming, densely populated - but oddly silent. This track also features brief blasts of woodwind / stringed instruments that gently fade in and out throughout. The tired sigh of a wet, neon skyscraper-laden city

Chalky Sunlight

Fading in much as the first, with layers of airy synth, a lazy melody chirps in as a single, low electric bass note pulses out. As an echoing horn laconically rings through occasionally descending, brief piano runs, it’s clear already that this is an album that doesn’t feel the need to prove itself, giving itself totally to minimal ambient soundscapes, punctuated by aching, keening melodies that add to the overall sense of quiet calm – at least, so far. The music moves in gentle, lapping waves as opposed to being driven by a beat, it’s usually towards the end of this track that I feel like I’m on strong painkillers and I start to want to just lie down and drink in the atmosphere, it’s so wonderfully calming.

Forget the Ones You Love

A darker tone is on show here, with almost alien/machine sounding vocoder lines weaving throughout, courtesy of Khris Clymer. It took me a good few listens to realise that the lyrics for this track are the words emblazoned on the back of the cover! The only track with anything remotely approaching vocals, it still feels perfectly in sync with the album. As if this is a machine’s interpretation of Neo Berlin. A harder edge on the instrumentation adds a more angular take on things, although still with that airy atmospheric background firmly in place, keeping a thematic sensibility to the surrounding tracks.

Bright Blue Eyes

Again, offering a different slant on things, this is a piano-led track played by Sylvain Marcotte  (although there is a beautiful, and cheeky run on flute at around the 40-second mark). The piano - in contrast to the previous track – offers a more organic and emotive take as opposed to the garbled vocoder of Forget the Ones You Love. It strikes me as a pairing, two takes on the same topic, one machine and one human, a very pretty and mellow song.

Solarpunk

I really enjoyed this track. Whilst it’s a return to a more purely atmospheric approach, there are rolling waves of string sections that rise and fall in harmony to match the main theme and it’s an extremely effective move. The bubbling, shimmering melodies that bob around the main musical swells adds colour and shape to the song. Again, this was a moment where I took note of how Yann Latour manages to keep things interesting, varied and evolutionary without over-egging the tracks or descending into needless complexity. A calming end to the first side.

Side B:

Les Arbres Mecaniques

Starting off with a blend of synth and strings, Les Arbres Mecaniques soon brings in keening violin, played by Katherine Plante. This stab of organic musicianship placed upfront makes a mark on the track, guiding the movement along as those waves of strings rise and fall to join the playing, as in Solarpunk on the previous side. The musical swells feel like crowds of people lifting their heads to gaze above at the playing of the violin itself, drifting above their heads, across the skyline. 

GAIA 04

The only track so far to feature any sort of percussion, highly-tuned hand drums are rolled upon quietly as a distant beat makes itself known. After a few bars, a fantastically simple and groovy 2-note bassline drops in, repeating for the rest of the song in a sort of stoned dance. Just before the track fades out, it almost feels like it’s going to kick off into a cavernous jam before slinking away slowly back into the shadows.

Noir Alley

A saxophone effect rings out over layers of synth and what appears to be heavily-treated and mellowed sheets of guitar feedback - guitars on the album are courtesy of Jerome Boisvert -they blend together well, as reverb-laden slide guitar echoes throughout behind the forlorn sax melody, eventually melting together, into the night.

Serenity Glitch

The penultimate track of the album starts with a pensive, insistent beat; single, high piano notes and an extremely ‘80s keyboard effect. It’s not long before distorted, milky guitar notes join the fray, playing in tandem with the piano. The melodic sensibility of this, in terms of the retro-approach and guitar tone really reminded me of the guitar style used on John Carpenter’s albums. Good. There’s even a touch of Jan Hammer here, for me. Serenity Glitch was a standout track, after so many variations on an atmospheric theme, the gutsiness of this one are a pleasant surprise towards the end of the album.

Neo Berlin Blues

Half-echoing the first track with the airy synth and single, rich piano notes, Neo Berlin Blues then moves into gorgeously melancholic piano and is soon backed by strings, as if the music is once again trying to pull you back into a dream. Katherine Plante’s emotive violin rings out as the piano shifts to gentle, descending runs. The way Neo Berlin Blues entices you to relax is offset by the sadness in the playing, it’s a sorrowful coda that is absolutely on point with the theme, a bittersweet ending to the tale.

Having been a fan of ambient video game music since my days on the Amiga, when such soundscapes were first introduced to me, I’ve often thought how great it would be to hear a soundtrack that captured the romanticised memories I have of atmospheric pieces from over twenty years ago.

ENCODYA is the closest thing that I’ve come across that manages to capture that feel. The lack of beats or drums throughout the vast majority of the record means that your ears instead get swept up in the layering and emotional scene-setting of the music and this seems to cause my brain to just slow down and zone out in the best possible way.

I mentioned earlier in the review that I felt like painkillers were kicking in as I listened and, after many listens, this still rings true. At most points in the album, I feel like I could just close my eyes and let my mind relax and drift, which is a wonderful thing to take from music.

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