I mentioned Neil Gardner's The Sound Within a few postings ago in July. It was something we did at the end of a day in the studio recording an audio-book and as far as I remember, it was done in 'one take', so what you hear is my first instinctive reading of the piece. I think Neil has written something quite amazing and I was thrilled with the finished production. One of my comments at the time of recording was to muse about David Gilmour providing a musical sound-scape behind the words; Purple Planet have done a superb job in my opinion and hit the mood, as I understood it, perfectly.
The Sound Within is reproduced in its entirety below, or you can download it free by following the link at the foot of this most generous and encouraging review.
Audiobook Shorts: The Sound Within - Review by Susan Omand
Susan Ormand listens to a deceptively simple story about the tangible versus the intangible.
Read By: John Banks
Music By: Purple Planet
Directed By: Neil Gardner
The story of The Sound Within is a very simple one about a space. A space that just "was" until it encountered sound and light. The sound and light entered the space and measured the space and enjoyed the space. At a very superficial level, that's pretty much the whole story.
That is also very much the "sound" of the story too, with a lulling repetition of simple words and the space, sound and light taking on almost anthropomorphic, childlike qualities as they explore and discover their environment. In fact, on the surface, it felt very much like a childhood bedtime story in a safe and comforting way.
However, if you want to be more introspective about the
meaning behind the story it actually becomes a deep and philosophical study of
existential limits and the ability to "just be", scientific
exploration and interpersonal boundaries - the tangible versus the
intangible. So it's very much a case of
making the story what you want it to be, and the brevity of it, at under seven
minutes, allows for this much more easily than a longer piece.
The Sound Within was a pure indulgence for me as I enjoyed
listening to the sound and texture of the words as well as the story itself,
which worked on several levels. John
Banks' voice was also ideally suited for it with a pleasing tone and calming
timbre. The music at the start and end
is worth a mention too, as it really added to the almost trance-like quality of
the recording. I cannot really come up
with anything negative to say about it, other than it didn't blow me away with
a wow factor. Instead, it made me
smile. A lot.
The Sound Within - free download