Thanks, Ki, for the 6+ minute songs you offered to try to show that they aren't necessarily boring or repetitive.
I definitely preferred the first two (post-rock?) shorter songs, "Spirits Stampede" by Pg.lost and "Worlds in Collision" by God is an Astronaut, to the last longer one, "Zenith," by A Swarm in the Sun.
I felt the best part of "Spirits Stampede" is at 4:30 when the music becomes more energetic. I feel they could have edited out some of the earlier part of the song to reach that latter section sooner, thereby shortening the song and not losing much of its content.
Similarly, I felt "Worlds in Collision" (my favorite of the three) could have been edited down without much loss of the song's feeling or content. I like its pleasant beat and a soothing sound, but it is fairly repetitive. My favorite part was at 6' when a quiet piano section starts.
Such atmospheric music is perhaps intended for those who want to be carried away by the music's tranquility, and so I can understand why many listeners wouldn't mind the songs lasting longer than 6'. I did like both songs; I just thought they could have been made shorter, which I would have preferred.
However, I didn't like the longer song "Zenith" by "A Swarm of the Sun" at all. The song had a louder, more intense instrumental section at 2:49, which was nice, except that it went on with almost no variation in its sound for over a minute (!) until 4:40. Then the song dwindled down at 5:40 and became very quiet. I became hopeful that they would let the song die a natural death at that point...but no, they kept the song on life support, barely alive, before finally revitalizing it with lyrics and a louder volume until pulling the plug five long minutes later.
I think "Zenith" would have been much more effective if it were shorter.
Not if I fall asleep listening to it!
