About Isyana Sarasvati’s Il Sogno
…well, maybe it’s not entirely a cup of my tea
This time, I use English because the musical terms I use are easier to be explained in English lol
I don’t really like to call this post a review, because I rarely make musical reviews you often see in regular media publications. I prefer to review a piece of music in pure interest, rather than because of content and deadline pressure in the media industry.
Well, enough chit-chat. I admit Isyana Sarasvati is an advanced musician. I used to hear her earlier more-popish songs and it sounds okay to me, and this time her recent works spark interest in me, because of her idea of blending classical idioms with rock/metal. I personally think her musical idea is like jack-of-all-trades; sometimes you hear more easy-listening pop, then you hear more orchestral film and game soundtrack-inspired, get some of lil bits of electronic music, and suddenly everything goes symphonic metal. I heard her electone composition, which won a competition and published as one of a standard repertoire (CMIIW here!), and I think that composition is just random, linear, has so many themes with no specific patterns or form, just like a child with on-and-off imagination. And that still quite affects her music until today.
Recently, she released her new song, Il Sogno:
I wrote this because yesterday she released her music video, even though her music was released around 1 month ago (well, that’s the current popular music marketing nowadays). It is interesting, not a mainstream Indonesian popular song of course, and one of Isyana’s showcases of colorful, flickering imagination. I give the link to her lyric video rather than the MV so you can focus more on the music.
But honestly… I don’t quite attached to this song. First of all, it has the same tonic as her previous songs like ‘Lexicon’ and ‘Unlock The Key’, which makes me think like “does she have a great attachment to A Minor?” Honestly, I easily bored with songs with the same tonic, except that it has a similar theme like in a movement of the baroque suite and classical sonata and symphony. Maybe Isyana has some connection in her latest work which gives her the idea to make the tonic the same?
That first one is quite superficial, so the next thing I want to point is: the use of harpsichord here. I don’t know if I should address this to her or her arranger instead. Personally, I wish the harpsichord sounds more like the Baroque continuo rather than a Baroque solo piece (let’s call it Handel’s keyboard suite because there are so many terms used in this era and I prefer this one lol) pasted on the classical quintet-symphonic metal blend. Well, to make it short, here’s the explanation:
If you hear it, the continuo puts more emphasis to lower melody and rhythmic upper-range tones, while the keyboard suite sounds more to regular piano pieces with melody on upper-range and harmony on the lower range. You can YouTube it to learn more. Continuo sounds more rhythmic while Baroque keyboard suite sounds more melodic. In this case, the harpsichord is tending to the keyboard suite ones because what I hear mostly are in the middle-upper range.
This is not an accurate example of usage in symphonic metal music, because this one is more of an attempt to imitate the historically accurate continuo:
In this song, the harpsichord is more of a rhythm, not a counter-melody like in Il Sogno. I hope you can grasp my point (lol).
In my opinion, using the harpsichord as a continuo rather than a keyboard suite gives more advantages: this instrument brings more texture. You can put it in the middle section, in which the lower is filled by the bass (guitar and drum) and the higher is occupied by cymbals and snare. It’s still pretty stand out like Front et Baiser above, even though lil bit overshadowed by strings and guitar, because the timbre is really different. Harpsichord has a thinner timbre, so add the rhythm more chords to give more oomphs, and that’s how continuo works in the first place.
The last one is more conceptual and dependable, so I think I don’t need to bring more sources like above. I wish towards the end of the song, there’s a perfect blend of both classical and metal ones. I wish ALL of the instruments are used in this part. However, what I hear is, the metal part are more dominant than the classical ones (and the harpsichord is lost here!). This is merely about taste, maybe Isyana prefers to make both of the genres walk on the same path, with some intersection, and turn into a bigger path but without the exact amount — like 2+2=3.89. The tempo pace well, but without all of the gang, I think something is missing. Maybe it’s intentional, let’s hope for the best…
…and that’s it. Honestly, I don’t want to ‘correct’ or ‘fix’this song. It’s Isyana’s song, it’s her own concept, so she does not owe any explanation and doesn’t need to be defensive. It’s nice, but maybe… it’s not entirely my cup of tea. As an audience, this is what I think after I hear Il Sogno. Because I have some reference in classical music, my brain automatically like “well it should be like this!” (lol). Anyway, it’s a good job!
We are not talking about Il Sogno here, but I just rant on YouTube user who said “only Isyana who can make this kind of music”. I immediately respond: no dude, you’re wrong here. EVERYBODY even in Indonesia can make this kind of music, especially if you throw the idea to an ISI alumnus. S/He got a huge amount of replies who disagree, and I’m on team negative. Isyana is more popular than my lecturers, but that doesn’t mean only she can make symphonic metal in Indonesia! I intend this to the user, who maybe is a fan, not the artist. The artist is awesome and less drama.
