It seems to have become a recent tradition for EnsionD and Francis Vace to collab on Ponies At Dawn albums, and I’m loving it! Not only is EnsionD a great house producer (better than my attempts at the genre by far), but these songs give Francis a chance to show his vocals fit multiple styles of music. And of course, it features Taviscratch, so it gets instant HMH approval!
Original
Virus Ponies – Thank You | Bounce
As the title implies, this new song from Virus Ponies is a thank-you present for their followers after having reached 100 subscribers. Go check it out for some classic bounce, with some slightly explicit text-to-speech lyrics, just as a heads-up.
[P@D] Zephysonas – The Great Dragon Migration | Orchestral
I remember Zephysonas from back in the day when he used to comment on every song featured on Equestria Daily with alliteration (I guess our own Makenshi has taken that role now, eh?), so I was surprised and delighted to not only find that he makes music himself, but was featuring on Awakening! Check out one of the album’s closing pieces above; a wonderfully composed orchestral piece about dragons.
WoodLore – Flowers | Soft Rock
It’s great to see WoodLore giving us new music on somewhat of a regular basis again. Take a seat and listen to this acoustic-driven rock track that makes great use of synth sounds in the chorus. I just can’t get enough of this song!
[P@D] Kadenza – Memento / Violin Melody – Sundown | Trance
Two rather different types of trance songs from Awakening today. First up is Kadenza’s Memento, part of a small series of songs that were spread across 3 different Ponies At Dawn albums! All 3 songs, (Quell, Reflect, and Memento) follow the same kind of hands-up/hard trance vibe. I still don’t know the story behind them, but I guess Kadenza’s left that deliberately open to interpretation!
Violin Melody has been slowly building a name for themself over the past couple of years, and I believe this is their first P@D feature! This song sits somewhere between trance, house, and hard dance; it keeps a solid beat and a good saw bass, but has some lighter melodic moments too.
StealingShad3Z – Oh Now You Care | Alt. Rock
Shad3Z just keeps on going and keeps on going with new music. This song lies in the realm of hypothetical Spike x Ember shipping; Shad3z sings this from Spike’s point of view, having moved on from Rarity to someone better. Go listen for emo rock and sad lyrics.
[P@D] Thrasher & Night Crow – Beneath Clouds / Foozogz & Sights Unseen – Out Of The Forest | Hardcore
Combining hardcore, trance, metal, and dubstep all into one song, Thrasher and Night Crow bring us the epic Beneath Clouds. If you’re familiar with Celldweller, imagine that but by pony musicians and you’ve got this song here (more or less ;D). I hope to hear more music like this from these two in the future!
In a collab that I didn’t see coming, but makes total sense, Foozogz and Sights Unseen bring us a dark changeling-themed song. Fooz brings out the lesser-known darker side to his production and Sights adds his haunting vocals to make this industrial hardcore piece complete.
[P@D] Sonic Rainboom – Three Words (Needless To Say) [feat. PegasYs] | Electro-Pop
Not entirely sure what to call this, but it’s a really cute song! We don’t often hear such calm and poppy songs about Rainbow Dash but this works really well; you can find ph00t’s in-depth explanation of the lyrics in the video description.
[P@D] Neighsayer – Greener Pastures | Smooth Jazz
It’s always really nice to see Neighsayer feature on the Ponies At Dawn albums, because his songs are often very unique “acoustic” pieces on an album seemingly dominated by electronic music. Check out this [insert Portal 2 reference here], complete with brushed drums and rhodes and everything!
[P@D] Jyc Row – Tribus Silvarum / ModernBard – Peaceful Landscapes in Equestria | Orchestral
We do like to say that Ponies at Dawn have a bit of everything on their albums, and here we show off another facet of that statement with some orchestral music! Jyc Row here delivers a celtic-feeling track with heavy drums and some captivating choral sounds to really drive home an epic sonic experience.
And the second track here is the closing track to the Awakening album, from ModernBard. This track really lives up to its name with soaring strings and some beautiful woodwind helping to deliver a powerful and yet soothing experience that ends the album on a very resolved, satisfying note. ModernBard’s skill here in creating an atmosphere is highly impressive and he certainly deserves a lot more followers!
Horse Music Herald 