[slow ballad] Hanging by a Thread (stream/mp3)

[Mr.Eagle]

Hi everybody,

some months ago I was a little bored and played around on my keyboard. After this "playing around" there was a slow and rather simple piano melody which I kept. But despite its simplicity (or perhaps because of it) I couldn't get this melody out of my mind.
Last weekend I took out this melody again and started to work with it. The result is a rather slow and short ballad-type song with the title:

Hanging by a Thread
(04:13, November 2012)

I hope that you'll like this work...

Greetings,
Mr.Eagle

[Harbinger]

Notes as i'm listening:

The song fades in with a somewhat annoying beep which reminds one of a heart monitor at a hospital, which as i listen is exactly what it's supposed to represent. Grand orchestral strings bring in a lyrical piano line, and the theme is developed more as the heartrate must be revived. (That part's interesting and if you know what's being described, the scene is very clear and very well dramatized musically.)

The chord progressions are integrated beautifully, and the themes are developed nicely in the first 2 minutes, with layers coming in for support. After the transition at about 2:30, the drum set and bass are brought in to begin a strong but slow set that humanizes the melancholy and sentimental atmosphere, as if reminiscing over memories that can never be relived but hopeful that the struggle will produce something noble.

I felt the song could have used more development and more sections, exploring maybe different keys or the same thematic material in other timbres/instruments. However, the story is told and pretty focused, so high marks for describing everything cinematically. The layers are not too heavy and the choice in instrumentation is superb.

My only criticism is that the piano, esp. in its opening sequence, sounds as if every note is struck with the same strength. Normally a piano needs to sound as dynamically expressive as possible, so i would humanize that instrument a little more by using different key velocities and maybe take a few of the notes off beat during the intial run-thru.

Overall, the sound is classic Eagle and the production quality is excellent. Worth listening to.

[Mr.Eagle]

Thank you for listen and the comment...