Review of Nathan Griffith's Reason Assignment

This song uses many instruments which sound like synthesized real-world instruments - the bassline sounds as if it has been played with an electric bass guitar, a realistic-sounding drumkit was chosen, and I think I can hear some piano, flutes, and horns in the middle section. The exception would be the pad Nathan uses to start this track, which sounds decidedly synthetic. The song begins with a gradual slow buildup, with drums and a pad in the beginning, starting softly, and some volume of the bass fading in and out. When the main melody comes in, the bass drops out, and slowly re-adds itself. From there, there isn't much of a sharp buildup to the climax so much as a gradual rising that does not sound quite finished by the time the song ends. For this style of song, however, which is rather soft and calm (though I wouldn't call it ambient, as Nathan does, since the drums are too strong), I think this works.
The effects are used well. Nathan makes use of delay, echo, and reverb, which all help to create overlapping layers of sound in the background from few instruments. There are also a few volume swells, and the levels of each instruments are fairly evenly mixed and compressed. Again, these all work well for this slower and softer kind of piece - Nathan creates a big soundscape that still retains simplicity. The one part of this piece I would change is the instrumentation for the main melody line, which somehow seemed to not quite be either artificial or realistic enough and fell in the gap which sounds like artificial sweetener. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the relaxing feel of this track overall.