Remains

Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon | Format: MP3 Music
From the Album Remains

Product Details

• Original Release Date: July 9, 2009
• Label: Nervous Circus
• Copyright: 2009 Nervous Circus
• Duration: 4:04 minutes
• Genres:
  • Pop
• ASIN: B002HTN5QS
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,295 Paid in MP3 Songs (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Songs)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly captures Dollhouse's aesthetic July 20, 2009

By Aaron Sherman

Amazon Verified Purchase

If I didn't already know, I'd say that this song had to be associated with one of the distopian present series of the last few years like Dollhouse or The 4400. It has layers of feeling to it that words rarely adequately convey, and yet it tells a simple story of a woman whose life and even memories have been torn away, and who none the less remains who she is at her core. It's this simple premise that makes both Dollhouse and this song so powerful.

Musically, it's a fairly simple song, and Jed's other soundtrack work really comes through, here. The distorted bells and drawn-out chords would be at home on any of the moodier and thoughtful dramatic offerings of the big or small screen these past few years.

Bottom line: for $0.99 how can you possibly go wrong?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A surprising performance July 20, 2009

By Chris Reeves

Amazon Verified Purchase

I admit I've been a fan of the late 80s / early 90s female singer songwriter genre, and am sometimes saddened that we're back churning out pop-heavy medleys.

"Remains" has the feel of a production values that remind me directly of that; it's the kind of song you could feel would come right out of the Eric Rosse wheelhouse.

Sometimes it's hard to tie music together, but listening to this reminded me of older Sarah McLachlan, Tori, Kate Bush..

I say surprising because there is always expectation of someone who wants to make a spash as a first effort to do something pop or mainstream. But in bucking those trends, several artists have found their home.

Here's hoping this is the leadoff single for future work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly beautiful. July 24, 2009

By J. Cornell

So, this officially becomes the first MP3 I've ever paid for. I knew I had to have this after listening to "Everything You Ever" from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Maurissa sings all of four words on that track, and yet their delivery was enough to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

She's fantastic here, too. Her voice is intimate and wistful and still comes across as completely sincere.

The structure of the song is nothing groundbreaking, and it's not very high-energy, but it really sets a moody, introspective tone beautifully. And it moves very effectively from a verse that sounds depressed and exhausted by life into a chorus that suddenly finds optimism. Jed is very accomplished at setting a mood to a message. Whereas rock bands often write music and then find lyrics to match that mood, working with musicals has obviously forced Jed to practice working from lyrics as a starting point.

And I like the lyrics. They remind me a little of Death Cab's "Your Heart is an Empty Room." They also remind me a bit of Penny's Song in Dr. Horrible. This seems to be a favorite theme of Jed and Maurissa's: finding hope in pain, or maybe even finding hope because of pain. Penny's coping mechanism was to force herself to feel pity instead of grief; Remains is a justification for "burning down" everything important to you because that's the only way to see what you really are. It's a really smart and poignant lyric. Hopeful and cynical at the same time. But mostly hopeful.

I truly hope this blossoms into a full-length album. But even if this is a one-off, I'm sure there will be plenty more of their work to enjoy.