Review Summary: A harrowing experiment in noise that yields interesting, yet slightly disappointing results.
Goodbye, World is a difficult experience to process. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think someone with minimal musical talent sat down in a studio and just started smashing buttons and kicking instruments. It’s a messy sound, undoubtedly, but it’s too perfect and well-orchestrated to be an actual mess. It’s more of an experiment, created entirely by the sole composer, David Gonzales.
The music is splintered and erratic and David’s wide-range of influences are a notable presence throughout Goodbye, World; at points where the ambiance dominates, it reminds me a lot of Koji Kondo’s composition for The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. But mostly, it’s carefully misconstrued noise, that occasionally dabbles with elements of progressive, alternative, and hard rock music.
The most notable influence, however, is Igor Stravinsky, specifically his suites, Firebird and the Rite of Spring. The discordance and classical structure featured in those suites is just as present here, but it doesn’t yield quite the same result. It could be because there is no imagery beyond what lies in your own imagination. With Goodbye, World, it feels like there’s a missing half, as if there’s something out in the world that needs to accompany it. That in itself may be the album’s greatest downfall.
Despite the fact that it’s a full-length release with a lot going on, there really isn’t much that I can say about Goodbye, World, at least, not beyond what I’ve already stated. It’s a powerful suite that has its high points and its low points. In the release disclaimer, David warns the album isn’t for everyone. For most, it’ll likely be an exercise in patience. For others, it may open your mind to new worlds of artistic expression, effectively allowing you to annihilate all else that existed before.
