AIM 2023 Judge Review
I like how this entry manages to be both chill but have this sort of hardworking vibe to it. The entire piece is basically just jamming out to the same idea for 3 minutes and I think the repetition is what draws this piece to be relaxing in a way that you can just sort of put it in the background and do other things without getting distracted. But at the same time, the repeating pattern itself is not your typical sort of setup for chill music. It's very plunky and uses some nasally-sounding synths to riff on its main melody, which places the mood in a very sort of structured, methodical environment. This is a long-winded way to say I can make that connection between the music and the art.
The percussion choice works well when all the instruments are playing, but I feel like the kick pattern from 1:51 - 1:56 hit way more beats than I think it should have to match the quieter part of this section. I did like the softer pads and I got the sense that they were being panned while holding their notes, which was quite nice.
Overall, I think this track is pretty good - I see it's meant to be royalty-free game music and I believe it serves this purpose well. Personally I hear this theme as being more suited to a cutscene in a lab where two characters are having a back-and-forth chat through a scrolling text box. Nice job!