From the opening song “Breath” to the epic closer, “Seven”, Los Angeles’ film and television composer Kim Planert maps out an imaginative and complex array of emotive artistry in the new full-length (instrumental) album, Being. The appropriately titled collection, listened through the lens of the past few years, sews together raw emotion and organic undercurrents that can only be achieved through a full orchestra. Planter, with the help of the Budapest Scoring Orchestra ignites an impassioned display of cinematic-esque music.
“Breath” has a slow but steady build. It’s as if the morning sun were about to sneak up from the mountain tops. The sounds build and build modestly. Something is going to happen…and when it does the piano and violin grip the listener with care and serenity. It sounds very spring-like, outdoorsy. In many ways, as Being continues, I felt like Planert had a vision of this being humanistic and his way of connecting the audience not only to his compositions, but to the instruments and the musicians playing said instruments.
There’s a two-way conversation happening. What I didn’t expect to discover was that songs like “Being” and “Cataclysm” would also ground me to nature. He incorporates rumbling rhythms and rapid tempo. He doesn’t jeopardize the listeners center. What I mean is, if this were a yoga practice and you’re balancing on one foot, the wall or object your zoning in on never wavers. In selections like “Us” and the aforementioned, you are not quite tunnel vision into the music, but you’re also completely aware of your surroundings and you feel as one with them. I hope that doesn’t sound too trippy – I’m not trying to say you lose consciousness. But you do lose yourself into the melodies and the ebb and the flow of the momentous events. And these are events. Each and every one of the songs on Being feels like an event.
“Liebe” has the romanticism you would expect from its title. Planert doesn’t shy away from the coloring and the flowering of the emotion. I felt like I could savor this song for hours. I must say I went back to it a few times…or 10. “Moment” unfolds into “Mercy”, and both continue a storyline that had me drawing circles in my mind, almost in a repetitive, hypnotic way. And, finally in the last track, which is also the longest of them all at just under 12 minutes, “Seven” ties it all together. I wasn’t expecting a song that mimicked or mirrored the others. I was neither expecting a collection to be like a concept album (Green Day’s “American Idiot”) and follow a linear storyline. “Seven” captures the emotions of it all and then some. “Seven” encapsulated the idea of community and togetherness. And it also brought to the surface loneliness and despair- only to quickly be gobbled up by optimistic and joyful tones.
I highly recommend Kim Planert’s Being. Any music fan will fall for these beguiling orchestrations. What better way to explore new experiences and honor your own emotions. Planert certainly shares his.
Chadwick Easton