Silent Mobius International Sountrack Vol. 2 Melody

SILENT MOBIUS
INTERNATIONAL SOUNDTRACK VOL. 2 MELODY
Copyright © Studio Tron / Kadokawa Shoten / Bandai Visual / Sotsu Agency/ TV Tokyo
Ayers, Inc.
AYCM-612
Available Now in Japan
¥ 3,080

—by Charles McCarter

1. Can We Bring the Love In 4:53

2. You Paint the Sky 4:17

3. With Everything I Am 4:29

4. Card Shark 4:12

5. Love Can Never Be Erased 4:23

6. Gone 4:33

7. A Forbidden Pansee 3:24

8. 'Till the End of Time 3:15

9. Silently 4:47

10. Love Can Never Be Erased (reprise) 3:55

With a non-Japanese composer at the podium for this series, it doesn't seem surprising that an INTERNATIONAL SOUNDTRACK was released. However, what is surprising is that it's a vocal album entirely in English. And pretty good English at that. Although English songs have been making something of a comeback in anime soundtracks of late, current efforts often don't compare to songs of earlier shows like CITY HUNTER, GUNDAM 0083 and even URUSEI YATSURA and PROJECT A-KO. But this soundtrack tries to uphold the standards set by these older soundtracks.
The soundtrack has a very strong blues and jazz feel to it. The first track, "Can We Bring the Love In" sounds like something one might hear on an adult contemporary radio station. "You Paint the Sky" has more of an upbeat feel to it, but still demonstrates a jazz influence. There's also a more driving, hard rock song, although not a very good one, in "Card Sharks." One of the weaker songs of the album, this song is replete with silly lyrics screamed over a lot of guitar riffs.
Short and lyrically compact, "Love Can Never Be Erased" offers up a very Enya-esque song, complete with overlapping vocals and ethereal synthesizers providing atmospheric accompaniment. There's even a Peter Cetera-ish duet in "'Till the End of Time." A slightly over the top vocal performance on the part of the male vocalist, combined with the somewhat trite lyrics, make this song a little syrupy for my taste, but it is still technically very sound.
Arguably the most impressive track is the English version of the opening, A Forbidden Pansee. (A Pansee is a type of dance). Although it doesn't even pretend to be a faithful translation, the song is still enjoyable. The vocalist manages to race through the lyrics and still deliver the song very powerfully, as if she had been singing it for years. And, while in parts, the English is rushed to cram it all into the melody, the end result is a product that works pretty well.
The ending theme, "Silently" was in English originally, and while it is not the strongest song on the album, it is certainly a contender, with its plaintive vocals and sad, slow melody.
This is a very different feel to what I had expected for a vocal album from SILENT MOBIUS, as it sounds more jazz/adult contemporary than "futuristic J-pop" or rock. But then again, overall it works pretty well. Although this soundtrack might not have very much to do with SILENT MOBIUS other than providing incidental music and insert songs, it is certainly one of the more professional sounding "English" anime albums produced lately. And it's almost worth it for the English version of the opening song alone.