Whilst the original versions feature full orchestration, here TPR and Roxane Genot strip the sound back to primarily piano and cello, re-arranging the tracks to give a closer, more intimate feel.
The cover of the record is rich with shades of greys, featuring a decaying city presented from a zoomed-out isometric viewpoint, clouds drifting overhead as a key flower from the game – the Lunar Tear – sprouts from within the crumbling skeleton of the city.
The image is presented with a watercolour effect and captures the often-sombre mood of the music within perfectly. The rear of the cover is a continuation of the front and illustrates robots drifting amongst the clouds, heading towards the more natural ground and yet another Lunar Tear.
This too is filled with greys, and the tracklist is presented in a font that tricked my eyes into thinking it was reflective gold but is red/brown. The artwork, with the washed-out colours and sense of serenity and stillness, really does capture the mood of the album, it’s especially poignant as I’m currently listening through as I type this.
Opening the gatefold shows a field of Lunar Tears, bright and hazy with a simple cross marker thrust in the centre, with ripped clothing being used to hold the cross together as it whips in the wind. The image is framed through a broken iron structure as if we are gazing outwards from within one of the forgotten buildings on the cover, watching nature re-take the city back. It is again a darker image, with most of the gatefold taken up with the blackness of night, evocative stuff.
The records themselves are stored in frosted plastic covers, which I believe are anti-static. The inner-circle images again heavily feature Lunar Tears on a stark, black background.
Track Listing
Side A:
City Ruins/Rays of Light –
gentle, twinkling piano over a held, aching note starts the album off, the full, warm production gives an intimacy that captures and resonates with the emotional music of the game from which it is taken. As the song progresses, more delicate layers are added, such as lower piano runs and gently plucked piano. Eventually – the cello mournfully kicks in, guiding the track home.
Song of the Ancients continues the mood, with hazy swirls of cello that almost feel like they are reaching out of the speakers to fill your room with a keening mist. As this is one of the most recognisable tracks on the album, the haunting melodies stood out for me and brought back memories of my time with NieR, a wonderful piece of music perfectly performed here.
As the previous track fades out, A Beautiful Song begins with a more operatic soul, whilst it opens the space with a grander vibe than the preceding tracks, it still has that haunting quality of someone dancing alone in a beautiful ruin, with melancholy on their mind.
The final track of side A, Kaine/Salvation feels like one of the more thoughtful and internalised songs on the record, the mood and scene is now firmly dug in, with the cello and piano working perfectly off each other as light ambient notes and echoes fill out the sound. This track has some lovely runs and allows Roxane Genot to shine in the emotive melodies and chord changes. It’s great that each song gets plenty of time and room to exist, it really allows the reflective, calming mood time to have its dreamy effect.
Side B:
Voice of No Return starts with a sparse, swirling piano echoing out into the night that is soon accentuated by the cello. Another instantly recognisable song from the game, during the silence in the few seconds that it took me to flip the record, as the music began again on this, the second side of the album – it again hit me how rich and acoustic the record feels. It has a natural sonic palette that feels organically dusty, like bare footsteps on a thickly carpeted floor. To be honest, If I wasn’t covering the album in this article, there’s a seriously strong pull to get on a fainting couch with a glass of wine and just shut my eyes to get lost in the music. Again, I’m grateful for the length of these tracks, if too many tracks were added to the album and the lengths shortened – it would have a huge negative effect on the impact they have.
Amusement Park is the second track on the second side and starts off with a slightly ominous playfulness, a more creepy music box than an amusement park. It doesn’t take long for the theme of the album to catch up, and following this intro, the track settles back into slow-tempo melancholy. As the song reaches the climax, the low, double-tracked cello hits home, and there were fragments that called to mind George Sanger’s awesome work on The 7th Guest. Good.
Ashes of Dreams is the most stripped-back track yet, as solo piano weaves a lonely narrative, echoing melodies from other parts of the soundtrack, it almost felt like a slow waltz, capturing the fading moments of light. A slight build on a cymbal towards the end of this almost made me think a full drum kit was about to kick in!
Side C:
Hills of Radiant Winds -
A familiar ascension begins the third side of the record, delicate notes ring out, accentuated by flourishes of distant acoustic guitar, it’s a lilting and calming piece of music that almost feels at the heart of NieR, managing to evoke memories and emotions seemingly effortlessly, a personal favourite on the album.
Grandma -
Another key slice of audio from the game, Grandma continues from Hills of Radiant Winds and buries the listener deeper in thick waves of healing melancholy. The cello coming in to reflect the melodies back at the piano is a wonderful and clever touch.
Peaceful Sleep -
Keening cello over deep piano embellished by faint acoustic guitar, Peaceful Sleep feels almost languid in its hypnotic performance, slow notes are milked for their mellow vibes as the song lazily peaks and dips back – it’s certainly a well-titled track that luxuriates in the air of calm that it creates.
The Ultimate Weapon instantly stands apart from the rest of the album through the fact that it heavily features vocalisations, it has the effect of hammering home the human presence of the album. Though no words are spoken, the breathy delivery accentuates the heavy mood.
Side D:
Emil/Sacrifice –
Glassy chimes join in with the instrumentation here, in another slow-paced track. It’s certainly an album that captures a specific type of mood. Upon my first listen, I was waiting for a change in pace or energy – but this is very much a creation that homes in on and focuses intensely on melancholy, so probably not a Saturday night thing. That said, the natural resonance of the cello and piano – when played in this fashion – are the perfect instruments for the job and capture the required expressions throughout.
Vague Hope/Cold Rain is the second song to feature vocals, and the low, husky notes quiver with emotional vibrato, taking centre stage over the twinkling piano and ambient soundscape that rolls throughout.
Weight of the World -
As the end of the album approaches, it feels like the music is slowing down and falling away, leaving us as listeners to our thoughts. Here, the cello plays out what feels almost like a vocal line over the piano and lightly-strummed acoustic guitar, as if the music itself is trying to talk to us through the melodies.
Mourning delivers an almost Witcher-esque, hissing funereal march, almost discordant in its presentation, there’s a sneer to the aching melodies that play off each other. It’s a wonderfully downbeat note to end the album on as if the thoughtful melancholy that has led us up to this has ended uncertainly. The many layers of cello crisscrossing each other is a highlight and again shows the expertise in play.
SUMMARY
REBIRTH + DESPAIR is an album that isn’t afraid to do a deep dive into moods that can make some feel uncomfortable. It’s a record that absolutely reflects the clouded skies and washed-out greys that feature on the artwork.
If you are a fan of music that leans towards the subtler, darker side of human nature, it doesn’t shy away from exploring it in an intensely arching way.
From the Mango Mage Records website:
Rebirth + Despair features a collection of piano and cello covers from NieR: Gestalt/Replicant + NieR Automata; a brilliant collaboration by TPR and Roxane Genot. This melancholy tribute to the music of NieR is being released as a 45rpm, 2LP vinyl gatefold with 3 colour variants:
Dreams: iridescent blue swirl (limited to 250 copies)
Memories: jade swirl (limited to 250 copies)
Wishes: iridescent blue + gold swirl (limited to 30 hand-numbered copies)
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