{"id":1608,"date":"2010-11-19T13:19:19","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T18:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1608"},"modified":"2010-12-20T22:09:35","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T03:09:35","slug":"mp3-sim-animals-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1608","title":{"rendered":"MP3: Sim Animals (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: E.A.R.S. (EA Recordings)\/ Released: January 13, 2009<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (35:45)<\/p>\n

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Composer: Winifred Phillips<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Separated from Nintendo\u2019s videogame, Winifred Phillips\u2019 music for\u00a0Sim Animals<\/strong> stands very well on its own as a collection of insanely cheerful themes that manage to avoid the pitfalls of being cloying and saccharine.<\/p>\n

The game was design for kids as well as \u2018animal lovers,\u2019 and while the concept seems straightforward \u2013 you interact with different forest species in order to gain their trust and enter far deeper into a forest menagerie \u2013 the music on this compilation album goes through a number of distinct theme variations, with some pretty startling orchestrations.<\/p>\n

Phillips uses elements from a large orchestral palette, and the samples are extremely diverse, as well as her choice to move between traditional orchestra and jazz in certain cues. \u201cHard Times\u201d begins with a rock-jazz percussion and brass intro, and slowly morphs into an eerie modern style with echoing strings before converging on delicate flutes and chimes.<\/p>\n

The main theme is the score\u2019s highlight, and Phillips\u2019 variations include a pop-styled instrumental (\u201cForest Song\u201d), a sleek jazz version with gliding brass (\u201cHappy Place\u201d), theme interplay between woodwinds and strings in \u201cFriendship,\u201d and the buoyant main title track, with its free-spirited tempo that propels and prepares the listener for a an amiable adventure.<\/p>\n

The album mix includes occasional sound effects \u2013 generally twittering birds and the odd sound of rushing water \u2013 but they\u2019re not distracting and usually fade away as a cue shifts to a different mood. \u201cPerfect World,\u201d for example closes with choral samples that back up the theme as played by woodwinds, whereas \u201cMisty Bog\u201d features distant fowl sounds that don\u2019t distract from the woodwinds, which span clarinet, oboe, and twittering flute.<\/p>\n

Most of the cues transform into different moods, and it\u2019s clear a lot of thought went into crafting specific tones for the game\u2019s levels \u2013 an aspect that gives the album a strong dramatic drive within the parameters of a fanciful adventure.<\/p>\n

Other videogames scored by Winifred Phillips include\u00a0Spore Hero<\/strong> (2009),\u00a0Speed Racer<\/strong> (2008),Shrek the Third<\/strong> (2007),\u00a0The Da Vinci Code<\/strong> (2006), and\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/strong>(2005).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related links:<\/p>\n

MP3s: \u00a0Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole<\/a> <\/strong>(2010) — Spore Hero<\/a> <\/strong>(2009)<\/p>\n

Interview with composer Winifred Phillips<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Composer Website<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews . Rating: Excellent Label: E.A.R.S. (EA Recordings)\/ Released: January 13, 2009 Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (35:45) . Composer: Winifred Phillips . . Review: Separated from Nintendo\u2019s videogame, Winifred Phillips\u2019 music for\u00a0Sim Animals stands very well on its own as a collection of insanely cheerful themes that manage to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[160,50],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-pW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1608"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1608\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}