For the last 25 years, Sandeep Chowta has been one of the most prolific film music composers in India. He rose to fame for his work on Satya and Company. Whenever Sandeep Chowta writes music for a movie, many of the musical pieces composed by him don’t make it into the movie’s final cuts. A lot of his musical sketches and song skeletons never get to be fully
materialized. One day, Sandeep Chowta decided to stop being upset about those and release those tunes in different music albums.
Over the course of seven months, Sandeep Chowta has released eight volumes of his series “From the Cinematic Vault”. The latest offering “From the Cinematic Vault: Vol. 8” is the 15th album released under his Namma Music label. The label releases music over an eclectic field of genres such as Cinematic Music, Progressive Rock, Carnatic, Dance, Electronic etc.
Every single song on “From the Cinematic Vault: Vol. 8” conjures up images and scenes from a movie relevant to the title. The best example of that is definitely the glorious first track “The Lament” and that’s what we will be reviewing here. “The Lament” features legendary American pianist and Smooth jazz keyboardist from the Grammy-nominated Jazz Fusion band Spyro Gyra, Tom Schuman, and Peepal Tree vocalist Sujay Harthi. From the second the track starts, you can hear lament.
Whether it’s the mournful strings, Tom Schuman’s beautiful piano work, Sujay Harthi’s sorrowful wails, or the haunting atmosphere binding all these elements together, the track doesn’t squander a single second meandering through emotionless notes. It’s rich and brimming with emotions. The track would feel right at home in the background as Faramir rides with his skeleton regiment to battle the massive Orc army at the gates of Minas Tirith in Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King.
“The Lament” is masterfully composed and performed. We shouldn’t expect anything less from a galaxy of stars like Chowta, Schuman, and Harthi anyway. The cinematic sound comes very naturally to Sandeep Chowta and you can clearly hear it on the track. Even if you are listening to it on a low volume through your headphones, it still sounds big. Props to the production and mixing crew for making the sound so rich and full, without letting one aspect dominate the proceedings. “The Lament” is filled with great elements, and the whole is way more than the sum of its parts.
Verdict: An epic musical journey through the plains of sorrow and grief. Fantastic.
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