Known to the Enterprise computer's database as "a contemporary form of Talarian music," Alba Ra sounds at first to be a deep-pulse gothic electric orchestra. Unfortunately, we are only allowed a small sample before Captain Picard puts a stop to it. The clip may be heard HERE.
Without the benefit of extensive musical study, I've been trying to dissect the elements that are essential to Alba Ra. There is a definite rhythm with Western Earth-type time, probably 4/4. A synthetic instrument (All the instruments seem electric, synthesized, or sampled in some way), keeps that time with a repetitive series of just a few notes. There is a set of two other instruments that work together, following similar pitch changes in the same beats; a definite synthy guitar sound throughout, an it is joined by what sounds like vocals. The synthy guitar contains pitch modulation that could be done on a keyboard with a modulation wheel, or it may be a stringed instrument whose strings are being pulled, as is common in guitar playing. For the sake of the analysis, I am calling it electric guitar. The electric guitar is mimicked by an almost operatic sound. If that is not another synth, it may have been actual vocals with filters and tuning applied, perhaps even auto-tune, though it ends smoothly when the electric guitar takes over again.
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