Game info: Steam
Listening: Steam
Info
Here’s a small, cute soundtrack to a small, cute RPG Maker game about a small, cute critter who saves their town and also possibly does a crime or two (time allowing). The setting is very traditional Japanese cliché, where you hang out at a shrine or a hot spring or the nearby mountain because there’s always a nearby mountain, the kind of thing you could describe as wafuu if you want everyone to know you’re a tremendous nerd.
The composer is AAAA (the caps are important), who’s probably best known for his original and rhythm game(-adjacent) music featuring jazzy/poppy chiptune and/or happy electronica elements. He does have more range than that, though, and the occasional game soundtrack he does is a good excuse to show it off. To go with the setting of the game, the soundtrack does of course incorporate some traditional Japanese instruments and pentatonic melodies and all that, though AAAA does let himself come through with jazzy harmony in a number of tracks and electronica and chiptuney stuff here and there. It’s got that abstract Goemon Japan/jazz/video game/easygoing/quirky mashup feeling going, though it’s definitely recognizable as its own thing.
Recommended tracks:
-
“Izanari shrine” is a solemn theme with a really emotional chord change at 0:30
-
“The cave of Inari” is a quirky little number with a nice pizzicato+synth sound texture
-
“Angel automatism” starts off with the cool chord progression of the previous track (“Mystery Turning”) before activating Final Boss Mode, with a calm break at 1:14 that evokes Ryuichi Sakamoto a little bit to me in the mix of piano + Japanese melody + extended chords
Leave a Reply