VARIOUS ARTISTS / Silent Hill Downpour: Radio Songs (2012)

An unmistakeable trademark of the Silent Hill series is its ability to wrap every tiny nuance of a game around its protagonist. With Murphy Pendleton, this expands farther into the musical realm than for any of the others by way of the radios scattered along his path. Outlaw country and more contemporary indie-country allude to his geographic past and cast the light of meaning on the locations he must visit before reaching the town proper. Less mainstream endeavors evoke his tumultuous relationships, especially those by Anna Ternheim. Save one example, this collection organically conveys specific information that enriches Murphy as a character and Downpour as a game.

It magnificently excels where Jonathan Davis utterly fails on the main soundtrack.

Songs of Note: Words of Love; If I Had A Boat

The complete playlist can be viewed here.

4½ Truths to Set You Free out of 5

DANIEL LICHT / Silent Hill Downpour (Original Soundtrack) [2012]

This is not Akira Yamaoka and while some of these songs do smack of him, the best contain personal flourishes from Licht, like the staccato percussive elements akin to Juno Reactor’s work on the Matrix films. Some exquisitely transition between claustrophobic, subdued movements and moments where everything will expand into freeform aural bouquets or, at the very least, fall into unexpectedly welcome melodies. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and the other voices are only used ethereally but this is effective in the face of Jonathan Davis’s singular lyrics, which accomplish nothing beyond painting a generic picture of what the series probably appears like to dismissive outsiders.

Trash that track, and check out the Radio Songs for accurate, subtle lyrical character development.

Songs of Note: Railcar Ride; Monastery Otherworld

3½ Rhythms in the Raindrops out of 5