Yutaka Yamada - A given [ Babylon ] [ EP ]

A huge shoutout this time to ivy from discord for showing me this track last year. When Ivy shared this last year, I liked this track so much at that time that I added this show to my plan to watch.
This is truly an amazing track that went really well with the show. Contrary to the general opinion of this show, I personally liked the show quite a lot too. Since it is dark, its not something I would advice anyone to watch easily, but the show was really superb.

The track I believe is mostly a theme for Ai Magase, a character from this show. There are 3 main parts to this track (well maybe 4 but i'll consider 3 main parts). First is the one that the track immediately starts with, it is those rapid violin notes. For the most part, this tune can also be called like the baseline of the track upon which other parts are added or built on.
These notes are also one of the most important part of the track that really make a mysterious atmosphere. Considering what this track generally portrayed in the show which is a mysterious, and also eerie atmosphere, these tunes are really great. On this tune, different layers of violins and cellos are added, like at 0:42 with that slow violin.
At 1:03, the base tune remains the same but the track really picks up extremely greatly with those deep drum bass, a more high pitched violin tune and if you listen closely another layer of violin (I think) that is soft and plays a constant note variation at regular intervals (can be heard at 1:03, 1:05, 1:07 etc repeating). However I wouldn't call this the second main part. This part is really good, no doubt in that, but the part that really checks this track out as amazing is the one that happens after this pickup at 1:03.

The truly marvelous part of the track starts building up at 1:28 and with a really short but perfect prologue for the second main part which stars at 1:33. In that time from 1:28 to 1:33, in just 6 seconds, the violins and cellos make such a great buildup leading to the main tune, it was genuinely amazing to hear. And when the 1:33 part comes, oh god this track really reaches great heights. That part, not only sounds great, but also shifts the atmosphere of the track to a bit more on the emotional side as well. Not too much of a shift, just a subtle change. But the orchestral tune of violins and cellos is just so great to hear, I have found myself listening to that again and again a lot. The overall composition sounds so great with those rapid base violin notes in the background and those slow and heavy orchestra on top of it.

After this section, the track slowly goes down, with just those rapid violin notes, and then soon after even they move away and the track totally goes more on the silent side. A piano composition takes its place. I'll not lie, I did not listen to this part much. Its kind of like an interlude between the two halves of the track. The track however slowly starts picking up again quite soon at 2:56 with those rapid violin notes coming back, however more faint this time, which is actually kind of nice as they just slowly back this part up, and not cause a mix between two completely different sections. There is just a small section that however sounds quite nice in this part, at 3:11. The piano tune is quite nice sounding in that with those short fast cymbal~ish sounds in the background.

The track once again starts picking up with its original tune at 3:57. The overall tune remains the same, but this time, once this similar tune section finishes off, the track goes into its third main part. This main part starts at 4:57 and is the one that heavily focuses on the main orchestral composition that we heard in the second main part in the early stages of the track. And I am really glad this part is present, because the orchestral tune was genuinely marvelous to hear in that second part of this track. The really faint rapid violin tune again does the job really nicely by not mixing up the different atmospheres in this stage. With this orchestral only part, the tracks overall atmosphere really shifts to more on the emotional side. And this is a genuinely beautiful part because the sadness that these orchestral tunes portray is just heart touching. My only wish was that this part was a bit longer. Its also really nice that the track doesn't really leave this orchestral composition, and just combines this to make the same tune that played in the second main part at 1:33.

Overall I absolutely love this track. True there are sections like the middle interlude one, that does kinda go a bit longer than I would appreciate, but still considering the rest of the track, I can look over it. I really hope you all like this track as much as I do.

Coming to the effects, the general part of the video does not have any effect, because I wanted to focus on the small orchestral section near the end of the track and added some stuff to that.

Our rating of this track: 10/10
Rating of this show's ost: 7/10