itch.io

Time loops really are fun haha, thank you for the comment! The progression being reused at the end of the songs felt fitting for a game about replaying the same day :]

I was literally midway through playing Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward so the story might have been a little inspired lmao, the thing about timeloops is that you can always do so much with them and it's almost always cool. Your submission was sick as hell the whole way through, Spike Chunsoft must be putting something into their soundtracks that make music inspired by them better 🤔

It's a bit late, but thank you!

Thank you so much for the comment! So much of this was focused on telling the story and seeing how much of it comes through is incredibly cool! I totally agree with the criticisms here too, you mention in Please [...] Electronics that the melody could develop faster and I think it's something I'd like to make sure of in some of the others like the second half of A Lively Catch or There's Nothing in the Water. All of the guitar was actually programmed using Session Guitarist - Picked Acoustic from Kontakt (in the melody mode so not loops)! 

Thank you for the super detailed comment! When it came to tying all the tracks together I figured that if the genres were gonna be inconsistent anyways I'd keep a lot of the melodic content similar, so pretty much all of the songs are in the same key and stay around the D note, with the repeated downwards section repeating in the latter half of the songs in the latter half of the album. Figured it'd make sense in a game about the same day repeating in different ways haha, I'm glad the approach seemed to work out! 

As for the ending, I agree that it definitely could use some changes. I'd like to do more with the guitar and maybe have like a horn section or something but the climax was made after waking up in a cold sweat at 3AM the day submissions were closing thinking that the previous version was really bad (it originally used the downwards chord progression and did NOT work lmao). Thank you again for the comment!

Thank you so much!!! 😭

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'll have to add pulchritudinous into my personal vocabulary lol. After checking out Wasteland of the Depths, holy banger, I'm definitely gonna listen to more of this guy. I love the AD:Piano series and must've missed this one! One of my personal favs from the series has gotta be from Sad Keyboard Guy :>

Thank you so much for the detailed track breakdown! It's really cool seeing people's thoughts on each track, especially coming from someone so skilled in musical storytelling :)

Thanks for the comment! Definitely agree that it's a bit quiet, I was gonna export all of em and do some normalizing but time management was not on my side haha 🙃

Thank you for the kind comment! Mixing electronic and acoustic stuff in genres like artcore has always been the coolest thing to me so to hear that about the title track is very encouraging! I did forget to mention that the guitar wasn't actually played live, it's all programmed (including the slides and whatnot) using Session Guitarist Picked Acoustic from Kontakt

Thank you! Electronic music my beloved 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you! I really appreciate the detailed breakdown, and I agree with the criticisms here! Sneaking some more guitar into each track would be a good idea, gonna have to note that down for the next jam :]

Thank you!!! 

Thank you! I think those might also be my two favorites, though then again I'm biased with edm brain hehe :>

Now that social anxiety has me in less of a chokehold I really want to thank everyone for all of the comments!!! It genuinely means so much you have no idea, everyone is just so talented and cool and adhaksjhgdkj

Thank you! It was a ton of fun to work on :)

I like the assortment of genres here, they're very different but feel connected in the story. The ethereal vibes in the first and last track are great, and Song For You is catchy with its main melody. The atmospheric textures and little vocal bits at the start are a great touch too. While the composition and melodies are great, the lead instruments did feel just a little bit MIDI-like to me. Putting some more variation on the synths with modulating filters or randomizing velocities on the guitar might help a bit, just something to think about though! It was a fun listen :)

The compositions and arrangements are really nice! The story comes through strongly in the music, and I'm sure it's helped a lot with the approach of having each instrument represent a certain thing in the story. While I do think the chord progressions could adventure a little bit more outside their home key and some of the instruments could use a little volume automation to help them swell into each other, I really like all of the ideas here (especially Stillness' Lair) and had a ton of fun listening through! Great work!

Man this was a spiritual experience. Each track was such a journey in a very Chris Christodoulou way, slowly building up and NAILING the huge euphoric moments. I needed to pause for a minute to walk around my foom after that first track like actually wtf. Honestly I really appreciate not having a super intricate story description as the music itself is able to do so much of the talking, the imagined story here goes so crazy. This whole thing goes so crazy. This is crazy.

Ooh yes I'm definitely hearing the Crypt of the Necrodancer influences, the melodies and instrumentation have just the right mix of real and electronic stuff with SO much funk. Interestingly, especially for Whimsical Ferrous Blossom it felt a bit like something from Everhood? (the first one is such a banger) I think Solar City and Baile en la Playa are my personal favorites, especially with that one passing chord at 0:27 of Baile en la Playa. I found myself humming and bouncing along with both of them, great work!

Man I don't hear anyone here get Jazz like you do, the compositions are bangin and scratch that big band itch that I crave. Personal favorite's gotta be the Grand Summer Prix Opening, so many fun stabs and solos, energy is on LOCK. For just a little bit of specific criticism, something felt a bit strange about some of the solo instruments. I can't really put my finger on it, it could be they're more dry than other instruments or they're panned a bit harshly, but the way they were placed felt a bit... strange on the headphones? Still, fantastic compositions I love your jazz specifically so so much and I cannot wait to hear more of your stuff! :>

Really like the variance in the arrangements, the quiet nighttime atmosphere in Lamplight and the reminiscent emotional swells in Bon Voyage are some highlights for me. They feel warm and full, packed with gentle-yet-emotionally-charged memories that the main character has to work through. 

I like the vibe a lot, it's laid back but also bouncy and energetic at the same time which is a fun combination. The use of 7/4 was also clean, usually I hear it more for weird off-kilter stuff but here it feels a lot more like a subtle rhythmic layer and I think that's very cool. You've got a great ear for the motif usage, though for some very specific feedback I think I'd like to hear a bit more silence at the end of some of the melodic lines. For example at 0:36 from the main menu, the first half of the melody is awesome and catchy but the second half where it stays on the lower notes for a while make it feel a bit like a run-on sentence, if that makes sense? Like the melody just resolved itself and I'd like some more time to sit with it. Again that's like, extremely specific and minor, this was a bunch of fun to listen to :)

This was my first morning submission and was a joy to listen to with a coffee. The progression of "snuggly, then stressful, then sad" works great from a narrative standpoint, it feels like a complete short story and with the catchy motif it felt like the perfect amount. 8 PM on the Boardwalk and In The Morning their mellow/lo-fi feel is handled really well and I'd love to hear these put on loop during a pretty sunset section of a game. I think compositionally A Light from the Abyss has all the stuff it needs for the energy that it's going for, but the drums feel like they're a little too far back in the mix compared to all the other stuff (imo) ((I love hard percussive edm stuff tho :>)). The lead also sounds like it's got some resonant frequencies that are peaking, not sure if that's intentional. I do only say any of that because I do really like the composition in the first place, and again both other songs have no notes they're a ton of fun. Great work!

The vibes are immaculate all throughout, the inspirations for each track came through clearly (especially with "Oh… that’s what happened" haha). I love all the usage of real recordings, it makes the scenes that each song is describing feel so much more warm and personal. This goes ESPECIALLY with the phone recording of the piano, that could not be a better way to close out the album.

You have such a way of expressing melancholy through just the strings and piano that I don't think I've heard from anyone else. The strings are warm and familiar, the piano is a string of nostalgic memories, and they come together so beautifully. All of these songs are so full of emotion, though it does feel a bit like it's the same emotion throughout. With "In Pieces of Mind" it sounded like it focused more on the higher strings taking the lead and I'd really like to hear that explored a bit with more instruments throughout. 

Also this is just a complete guess and I've only read the steam page for the game not played it, but the story wouldn't happen to be based on "The NOexistenceN of you AND me" would it? It feels like it's taking some inspiration from the game's concept (which is a cool concept I wanna play it sometime). Overall great stuff, I love taking inspiration from songs with emotional piano :)

This whole soundtrack feels very quiet in a good way, there's a lot of silence and space in the atmosphere that feels intentional. It still manages to progress through a story well too, I can feel the tension in "Crossing the Water." While I do really like the ambience I also think it could use just a little more dynamics here and there, having some swells of intensity either with more instruments or tempo changes or some other thing to help keep each song's individual story moving just a little bit more might help with that. Then again! Could also just be a me thing, very relaxing submission, great work!

Ah this really is a lot of fun, I'm loving all the references to other games like pacman and I think Minecraft with the chord progression in Arrival? It had a great narrative progression and all the mellow songs like Crop Circles and Stargazing made me want to nod off in a big open field somewhere and appreciate nature. I think with the energetic tracks (mostly Slushee Attack) the composition has a great energy, but the muted, mellow timbre of the instruments stopped most of the energy from coming through. Changing up the instruments to things with some more high end sharpness to them could help give it some more drive and power! Overall it was a fun journey going through all of this, great work!

Dude I can't believe you hit me with the roundstart stank face into headphones flying off head combo. Is there no counterplay to this 'cause it hit just as hard as the many times I played it back in the discord 😭

I'm tabbing back and forth between a lot of tabs while listening to these and I think I accidentally ended up listening to some of these like 3-4 times because of how well they looped. Best loop has to be "The Strange Figure Only I Can See," had to listen to that loop back a few times just on its own. I can absolutely see the game vision, and I really don't have much to say other than a very long list of more positive adjectives about everything here. Looking at the lil blurb for Aroma of Truth, it sounds less like an investigation song and more a connecting-the-logic moment with its stripped back mix. This whole thing is instantly going on my top 5 list holy

What a crazy journey, I really enjoyed the story and how much the OST feels like a spaghetti western in a VR set. That's such a great take on the theme! Consistently through all the tracks the guitars especially were so satisfying, like in We're Not Playing Around Here the rhythm of the drums and that metal guitar feels exactly like the kind of anger you feel towards a gang who happens to underestimate your combat abilities. Personal fav has got to be Arcadia, Arcade of Light with how funky it is and how well it connects the almost industrial drums with the fun and tense energy of the more metal elements from throughout the tracks. 

29 minutes, 44 seconds of music telling a story and not one second of it did I get tired. Every track flows so seamlessly into each other both musically and narratively, it's clear that a LOT of love was put into this. The slow buildup in intensity all the way to Dalma Commando feels so earned with how explosive it is, and bringing it back to Darker Hometown (easily one of my favs) to build back up again for an act 2, man. I think at The Lighthouse (easily my fav) I was fully and completely locked into this story. The Lighthouse is so good. I love the way the motif is used, the energy shifts, everything aaaaaaaa. This is some crazy work, fantastic job!!!

What I really like about this is how narrative it all feels. It's as if I'm watching a silent play with expressive actors and there's someone on the side of the stage doing the talking for them through the music. The fact that it's all 1-2 instruments at a time (or layers all playing the same thing) adds to this I think, like the song is a person. It's just so cool. 

This is a really charming submission with a lot of great vibes, I love the transition from the slow piano to the bossa nova in One Summer Night. It felt like a fun journey on its own, and The Carp follows up on that nicely with the focus more on ambient pads and flutes. I think if I were to offer some advice, I'd suggest putting some more time into humanizing the piano. There's a ton of little things that add up over time like velocity changes, "strumming" the chords sometimes, walking around on the chords with the left hand, automating the tempo of the track, and generally sometimes taking away or adding notes/flourishes. Magnificent atmosphere overall, great work!

A lot of impressive synth work here, I always love it when orchestral stuff blends with electronic stuff. One particular highlight was that guitar tone in Broken Night Sky, the way it's mangled but still holding on to its tonality put me right in the destroyed city it was describing. I do agree with FourthStrongest in that the melodies feel like they have a bit more room to stand out and be catchy. Again, I think that guitar from Broken Night Sky is super catchy and I'd like that a bit more in the rest of the tracks personally. Very much a personal preference though, I totally see the atmospheric vibe, great work!

I like how wistful and gentle all of this is, it's great for all the mystical story with some emotional sad overtones about having to say goodbye to things that you love. The first track nails this right on the head, the music box(?) and the lower strings add a ton of warmth to the composition. Really just want more of this, great stuff!

Now this is a soundtrack that I can get lost in, absolutely love these beautiful melodies and percussive elements making it feel like I'm in a real space. Plus some acoustic guitar? And funky time signatures in Orion? Sign me up, already wishlisted on steam. 

There are few things in life better than a smooth sax solo. This delivers. The smooth noire vibes here a just so satisfying man wtf. This album makes me compulsively want to put up a corkboard in a dark room with photos and red string, then go meet up with someone at an inconspicuous downtown coffee shop to secretly exchange information. Amazing work.

Man you can't just open with Novel Territories making me all emotional and stuff come on that's not fair I've got a whole album to experience here. I just. No. Stop. It was only supposed to be the first song not all of them stop making me feel things so strongly >:[

Genuinely shaking my head and punching the air with how good these compositions are, like if any one of these songs were in a game I suspect they'd immediately be my favorite of the entire OST. Less a criticism and more something that stuck out a bit, the room the instruments are in sounds a bit thin or narrow I think? I would pay money to see this played live from an orchestra just for the full experience. 

This is some professional, clean stuff right here. While there isn't too much going on, all the elements there feel full and used to their fullest. I especially like that rhythm in Trouble at Sea, keeping the listener on their toes and tense. Great work!

ooooooooh yeah those melodies are hitting those emotional beats yup. I love this Touhou style and you get it down so well with how catchy and energetic these melodies are. So many highlights but honestly one that sticks out for me is when that acoustic guitar comes in for Goodbye, Sun. Actually scratch that make it every time the acoustic guitar came in it just works SO well everywhere. This might be a personal preference but I do really like drums and the drums here are awesome but they felt a liiiiiiittle bit quiet I think? Not in STARWEAVER (banger) though, the drums feel very present here. This submission is so good, fantastic work!!!