Post Death Soundtrack - Beauty Eyes I Adore

Last week we premiered Post Death Soundtrack’s first album in over seven years, The Unlearning Curve (see the review here: The Unlearning Curve). An interesting mélange of goth, insdustrial and experimental rock and electronica, this recent album showed the band’s diversity and ability to stay relevant in an ever-branching music genre like goth. On the heels of The Unlearning Curve, band member Jon Ireson remixed one of the album’s more forgettable tracks, “Beauty Eyes I Adore”. In what the band are calling the “Dark Highway Remix”, this track kicks off a season or remixes Ireson and company plan to release around the new album. Though it may be a way to drum up more interest without having to compose new full tracks, Post Death Soundtrack may also see this campaign as a way to showcase a more EDM-spiked side to their musical style.


To address the afore-mentioned “forgettable” comment: the “Beauty Eyes I Adore” original mix is by no means bad. The vocals, like on all of the tracks on The Unlearning Curve are eerie and emotive with beautiful harmonies. On many of the tracks, the music is also very well-composed and interesting, with an almost theatrical bent. “Beauty Eyes I Adore”, however, seems a little flat on the music side. This may be because the vocals are so exquisite, or it may have something to do with the tempos. It’s apparent that the group were going for a sort of offset rhythm due to the different tempos of vocals and music. By this standard, the track could almost be classed as experimental. That said, its composite parts still don’t really jive with one another. The music doesn’t even come in until about two minutes into the track, but it honestly might have been more effective if there was no music, and just an a capella piece.

On the “Dark Highway Remix”, it’s apparent that Ireson is still getting his EDM legs, as the house beat is a bit brassy. However, this version of “Beauty Eyes I Adore” is much more potent when it comes to the feelings it evokes. Even with its somewhat snazzy, slightly out of place beat, this version seems more cohesive than the original. The house beat in question is chill house with sort of a brassy, snares-heavy patina to it. The music and melody are more on the side of techno or progressive trance, pushing this track squarely into small room EDM territory. There is an interesting synth progression, however, that still gives a nod to band’s goth base. Most importantly in this version the vocals match up with the beat and that makes all the difference. There is also a swirling harmony track which brings even more congruence to the vocals. As the track progresses, it becomes more theatrical and grandly produced, with multiple parts working in harmony to produce an almost classical effect.

Despite the beat being a little tinny, the “Dark Highway Mix” of “Beauty Eyes I Adore” is an improvement on the original. It shows both Post Death Soundtrack’s ability to diversify their music and reach different genres while still adhering to their core style This core style includes quality production with a goth twist. No doubt the upcoming remixes on other tracks from The Unlearning Curve will be just as interesting. 

Aug 07 2016