Saturday 24 September 2016

Pony Music Library 26: "Unleash the Magic"

Writing continues apace on what I now like to think of as Proper Story, which may not work out perfectly but which is already approximately a billion times better than Sunset's Sales Snag. Today, though, it's music that takes my attention, with a song that's only a year old but which I think is one of the finest canon tracks of them all.


What? "Unleash the Magic"

Who? Daniel Ingram, Caleb Chan and Trevor Hoffman (music); Daniel Ingram and Josh Haber (lyrics)

Which? Equestria Girls song

When? September 2015

Why? After the sustained musical excellence of Rainbow Rocks, the third film in the sub-franchise had a hard job living up to it – and it didn't. Although a couple of songs were very good, others did tend to suffer from Ingram Disease, the tendency to overcomplicate music that would be more effective if kept simple. "Unleash the Magic" just works, though, and (as with "This Day Aria") is a great example of how Disney-style villainy can be incorporated into music and still fit in with the world of MLP. Iris Quinn's fine turn as Cinch is wonderfully backed up by the Shadowbolts, with Rebecca Shiochet's eternally fantastic Twilight voice being the icing on the cake.

2 comments:

  1. A very interesting choice for the PML. I do like this track a fair bit, although I wish it wasn't ruined by Luna and Cadence's voices near the end (even in the official album!).
    Also the ending feels a bit anti-climactic if it's not followed the large explosion sounds heard in the movie.

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    1. I quite like the voices in this one, actually -- after all, the rhyme wouldn't make sense without the "now" right at the end, so removing the lot wouldn't really be an answer. Agreed that the lack of explosions is a slight downer, though!

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