This is pretty much the only definition I can find, and besides from being far from scientific, this definition can't even decide on how to spell "Lynne". That's pretty damn bad.
Handy YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYzwznQbPGg
Link to some fantastic albeit disturbing art: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vYzwznQbPGg/0.jpg
As you can probably guess, we're diving into the unstable realm of Vocaloid horror. I happen to enjoy a bit of horror now and then in my music, but unlike love songs which are quick to make and relatively hard to screw up if you're reasonably talented, horror is touchy and very hit or miss.
For a producer to make a niche in horror is a dangerous undertaking indeed. While there are some psychological elements to horror in which we can all relate, the fear of the unknown is what gives some of the best scary flicks their thunder. In that way, a mediocre horror movie automatically becomes reviled or worse, falls quickly into oblivion. However, unlike a movie, the common song is about 4 minutes. That's 240 short seconds to convey a certain feeling.
As any frequent theater or movie goer will tell you, its a much simpler job to make an audience go "Aw, that's so cute" then to be genuinely disturbed. So as genres go, I believe horror is one of the hardest to successfully pull off.
These days, the common reaction to having watched a scary movie is "Wow, that was dumb". Its a fact that for every movie that gives me some serious nightmares, there are about a hundred that would leave me laughing. Also, the reason some horror elements no longer work is because they've already become cliched. Every generation will have a harder and harder time scaring a more prepared set of people. A tactic which caused grown men to wet themselves may be considered cheesy today even by younger children.
...So where am I trying to go with all of this?
Meet Hachi: a Vocaloid producer whose music I am quite fond of. Probably his most notable work was on the song "Matryoshka" which is a true Vocaloid classic. Most of his songs have some sort of horror element, and for the most part, I find them enjoyable. Its nothing that's going to keep me up at night, but it provides that creepy chill anyway.
Lynne is a Hachi song. Now remember when I said horror is hit or miss? Yeah...sorry Hachi, but this is a miss.
Lynne isn't a terrible song...but its seriously flawed.
A common tactic I find among Vocaloid producers to create a creepy atmosphere is to dump a whole bunch of odd synthesizers together which somehow work on a different level. I've tried walking around with a few of these, notably Kikuo's "Ten Sho Sho Ten Sho", and it throws my balance off. It's a very satisfying feeling. Lynne tries this method and it fails terribly. The beat and the synth just don't mesh up like they should and when the words come in, the cacophony retreats to the background. Now, instead of being muddled, its just boring.
Boredom is the worst fear of any horror show director.
Lynne DOES manage to create an interesting story, and the music does end up working...but on a non-horror level which means the writing isn't backed up at all by the instrumentals.
I hate to cut into a Hachi song, but this really isn't his best work. The sad part is, I know Hachi can pull off the desperation tactic in a song because I've heard it many times in his works.
Anyway...
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The Rating
5/10
A very mediocre grade for a very mediocre song. There was effort, don't get me wrong, but nothing seemed to click. The concept was cool, but wasn't executed properly. The story was compelling, but the music didn't match.
...Yeah, I pretty much said the same thing three times, but that's pretty much all I CAN say. Miku's tuning was alright (for a horror song), and overall, there wasn't really anything that made me want to whip my headphones across the room...but there was nothing to keep them on my head either. Nice try, Hachi, but I think I'll stick with your "In a Rainy Town, Balloons Dance with Devils" for my daily dose of creepy.
ROCK ON, FELLOW VOCALOCONNOISSEURS!
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