paradise lost

Originally August Band was created for the purpose of the movie, Love of Siam, but they were so successful that they went on to release an album. In a way, the title of the album is to thank the movie as well as their fans for their support. This special Minialbum by August Band contains reworks (as well as original versions) of tracks from the Love of Siam OST.

The mini album opens with ยังอยู่ในใจ(Yung yoo nai jai). Starting with piano and childish vocals it builds up to a soft and simple rock track with two different vocalists and continues to build up with more and more different sounds until the grand ending- epic strings included. It’s a sweet song and very easy to listen to: pretty in its own way even if doesn’t stand out.

I adore the next track though. It is another version of the theme of Love of Siam, Gan lae Gun. ขอบคุณกันและกัน(Kob khun kun lae kun) is yet another version but the lyrics and feeling are completely different. I feel this version is so much more upbeat than the original, so much more hopeful. To quote mr.xiaogou “This tells the other love story in The Love of Siam: the love of friendship. It follows the rise of the August band in the movie, and how the band members come to terms with Mew’s love troubles and give him their support to move on with life.” Just like all the other versions though the song has such a beautiful feeling: expressive vocals and beautiful soft instrumentation coming together for something almost perfect. It’s a gorgeous song, which is relaxing to listen to but never boring, it’s just filled with so much emotion.

The third track คนธรรมดา(Khon tummada) is a more acoustic track. It’s got a very laid-back feeling. However the singers’ falsetto took me ages to get used to. Now I think it’s rather interesting. A bit hard to listen to for some reason though, so I don’t usually listen to this track.

Another favourite of mine next with a remix of Ticket- Ticket Night trip rmx. There is still that familiar rhythm and feeling to it; in many ways it is very similar, yet something definitely feels different about it. I think the arrangement is a bit different. And, much like the remix of Gan lae Gun although it like the original it still has that dark, melancholic feel there is a more prominent upbeat, hopeful feeling to it. Either way it’s still the same beautiful song that Ticket is.

The demo version of ขอบคุณกันและกัน(Kob khun kun lae kun) follows. I guess this is the track that August Band first recorded. There is definitely something raw about this track, it’s gan lae gun stripped of all it’s intricacies but what remains is still those sincere feelings and emotions that the song has. In the end it is just another beautiful arrangement of an almost perfect song (if you cannot yet tell I really really love gan lae gun XD).

Lastly there is Silent Night randomly stuck at the end (which is lovely from a foreigners point of view to hear a traditional song in another language, as well as hear it sung so beautifully with some equally beautiful calming piano backing…) before the instrumental for ยังอยู่ในใจ(Yung yoo nai jai)

Overall rating: 7.5/8 (Excellent)
Favourite tracks: ขอบคุณกันและกัน, Ticket Night trip rmx, ขอบคุณกันและกัน(demo)

This is a lovely mini album and a good follow up to the Love of Siam OST. Yes, mainly it is just reworks of the Love of Siam OST and it does worry me that the other two new tracks don’t inspire me (because then when I listen to their album that followed this will it be any good?) but whatever. This is good to listen to; even those tracks that aren’t as good are still nice and easy to listen to…apart from maybe คนธรรมดา where the falsetto can be a bit much.