Machinarium Soundtrack
Composed by Tomas 'Floex' Dvorak
LABEL: Amanita Design
  
While often overlooked by musical connoisseurs, some of the most intriguing and rewarding sounds can often be encountered through audio design intended for a visual medium. These can be soundtracks for films, art installations, or, in the case of Amanita Design's stunning Machinarium score, humble flash games.

At its heart, the Machinarium soundtrack is an electronic-based album, creating an enveloping environment of sound that conjures up images of a very simple, decaying machine. But it runs the gamut from beautiful, lush ambient arrangements with simple instrumentation, to catchy electro-grooves, then again to childlike melodies that bring to mind BT's brilliantly flawed "This Binary Universe", but in a more cohesive package. This is the kind of music you can leave in your CD player for days (and I have) because there are very few moods it can't speak to.

“It sounds as if it has been composed with no other purpose than to be listened to on its own, and to surround the listener with a rich sonic world to lose themselves in.”

The disparity in moods are held in place by sonic motifs, most notably, the presence of a vinyl LP sounding hiss and pop that comes and goes throughout the score, giving the entire piece a dub-analog flavor underneath the smooth production. Refreshingly, composer Tomas Dvorak (who releases his own material as Floex) manages to avoid almost all of the cliches inherent in both the electronic and ambient camps. The music here is almost impossible to categorize, while remaining familiar and instantly pleasing to electronic, ambient, experimental, jazz and classical palettes.

What most soundtracks seem to lack is a sense of dynamic, simply because very few artists in the field seem concerned with their music being digested outside of being paired with visuals or viewed as a collection of singles. The Machinarium soundtrack sounds as if it has been composed with no other purpose than to be listened to on its own, and to surround the listener with a rich sonic world to lose themselves in.

Though difficult to find on its own through legitimate channels, the Machinarium soundtrack is well-worth the $20 spent to get both the music and the flash game from Amanita Design's website. While you're at it, the game itself is definitely worth a look and a beautiful partner to its aural representation.


REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS
NEIL'S FAVORITE TRACKS: "Nanorobot Tune" • "The Glasshouse with Butterfly" • "Mr. Handagote"

Preview & purchase album from inner_fx

*** Listen & download 5 bonus tracks here