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(Yoko Kanno's) production of the album is flawless. She manages to effortlessly maintain the continuity of her particular compositional style without creating schlocky, ham-fisted house music.

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T

Review by: Stephanie Costello

Anime Series Soundtrack

Company: Tofu Records

Bandai Entertainment

CD Length: approx. 73 minutes

EXTERNAL EXAM

In humanity’s bright future, a special branch of law enforcement serves to protect mankind as it exists in a blurred world between man and machine. They are Section 9, the Department of Public Security. Tasked to deal with any threat to Japan or it's people.

Come with us, as we explore the dark recesses of the net with composer Yoko Kanno and her eclectic band of musicians, vocalists, and lyricists. After you listen to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T., your life will never be the same.

FINAL EXAM:

Shirow Masamune continues to raise the bar and set the gold standard for what an animated series can and should be. Breathtakingly beautiful artwork combined with intelligently written storylines and incredibly brilliant acting creates a world that is as believable as it is fantastical. Again, Yoko Kanno demonstrates her artistic genius to get inside a story and create the entire atmosphere of a series through song. By working with different lyricists she’s able to maintain an overall musical theme instrumentally while allowing different vocalists to create a dynamic emotional landscape.

Since the advent of electronic music, we’ve been culturally conditioned to associate techno with the future. Yoko uses this to her advantage, combining that concept with guitar based rock’n’roll or Russian choral variations to create something familiar yet different enough to sound as thought it had originated in our future. Her production of the album is flawless. She manages to effortlessly maintain the continuity of her particular compositional style without creating schlocky, ham-fisted house music.

Part of what keeps each track sounding fresh is Yoko’s collaboration with different lyricists and vocalists. Lyricist Troy and singer Ilaria Graziano combine their talents and create other-worldly vocalizations of dreamscapes over a pulsing electronic beat. Tim Jensen works with such diverse singers a Hide, Scott Matthew and Origa to create more rock’n’roll based pieces that convey a sense of post-modern angst.

Origa is best known for her performance on the opening track, Inner Universe. Along with Shanti Snyder, they have composed a haunting and transcendent lyric, a perfect accompaniment to Yoko Kanno’s beautiful thumping electronic score. This song truly encapsulates the beauty of the animation, the genius of the storylines and the zeitgeist of the world of tomorrow.

Best track

Inner Universe. Not only is this song magnificent in the way it brings the future into the here and now, it’s a magnificent song with insightful chord progressions and harmonies that could make a cybernetic heart ache.

Worst Track

There is no worst track on this album. Yoko Kanno’s compositions and arrangements are never ham-fisted. Each piece is well planned and superbly executed.

Perfect for Fans of:

Radiohead, Bjork, Lo-Fidelity All-stars, Cirque du Soliel soundtracks

Yoko Kanno has an uncanny ability to capture a series in song. Her genius is evident in the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex soundtrack. Technological advances seem to charge ahead of Humanity’s capacity to modify the existing ethical paradigm. This ethical lag creates a sense of alienation that is difficult to place or rectify.

In the brave new world of 2030, the lines separating Man and Machine have wholly blurred creating a new world full of new fears and wonders and still burdened by Humanity’s capacity for apathy and greed. The world of tomorrow is fantastic and familiar. It is the emotions of familiarity and alienation that Yoko Kanno evokes in this soundtrack.

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