ReMix: Bahamut Lagoon 'Stockholm'
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- Game: Bahamut Lagoon (Square, 1996, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Avaris
- Composer(s): Noriko Matsueda
- Song(s): 'Jojo and God Dragons', 'Jojo's Theme'
- Posted: 2012-01-26, evaluated by djpretzel
- Album: Featured on Unsung Heroes
Bahamut Lagoon. A lagoon... full of Bahamut. Because why not? We conclude our Unsung Heroes flood with this mellow, downtempo groove on Noriko Matsueda's original, from Avaris:
"This mix was heavily inspired by the FFX "Journey's End" mix, sephfire's arrangement skills in general, tons of stuff off of Armada's chillout/lounge compilations, and my own twisted sense of music. This has probably been the most enjoyable mix I have ever done. I sat down awhile back and completely re-imagined my composition process. I felt I kept on running into the same issues with every song I worked on. It was actually a really enjoyable experience to take a step back in order to be very subjective on one's own musical strengths and shortcomings."
Sounds like an introspective, reflective creation process, and the resulting arrangement conveys some of that pensiveness - this is a mellower, pared-down sound for Shaun, and there's more emphasis on texture. The main melody here has one motif that totally reminds me of the main theme to Sega's Quartet, so I've got a hard time mentally not expecting the rest of the phrase to follow through, but I doubt few people will have that connection. Director OA writes:
"The sound of this mix is really deep, and the contemplative and melancholy melody really shines when the ornamentation is so sparse. There are some beautiful washes of sound that are applied with a very light tough, almost like a watercolor painting, and each sound used gradually builds the track until the ending. An arrangement like this goes to show that when your source music is so strong, less can certainly be more when it comes to arranging it."
Deia adds:
"'Stockholm' has a bit of an exotic flare to it that adds a lot of character to the original source. Bahamut Lagoon has been on my "to-play" list for years, and this only increases my desire to experience the game first hand. Shaun uses a bit of a minimalist approach to the track at times, which exudes a contemplative nature. The backing elements add a lot of movement to the track, and the choir parts give everything an ethereal ambiance. Nice work from Shaun!"
Well said; interesting to see Shaun reform his workflow & draw direct inspiration from some existing mixes, and I think the results speak for themselves. Enjoy it, and enjoy all of Unsung Heroes - a huge congratulations to OA, Deia, Stevo, and the ENTIRE roster of artists who've started 2012 off with a fantastic album that celebrates some amazing, lesser-known VGM!
Discussion: Latest 10 comments/reviews; view the - Crulex on April 29, 2013
Good job avaris!
- Bahamut on July 12, 2012
The sources used are very simplistic melodies that tend to get absorbed well without becoming too repetitive, and thus it works beautifully well in the context of a more chilled track from avaris's end. Having heard his progression since the PRC days he's managed to show his clarity and develop his style a lot, and in the style of a gentler soundscape it's managed to provide something that provides more of a zen-like state of mind from the user. It may be generally a tad dry and a little on the unrealistic side in regards to the organic instrument selection used, but given that this is more of a citing of his musical influences, it actually seems natural to be able to take it that way and fit in a more modernised context.
So you can see that I dig this - works well for my travels out and about, and can be quite reflective depending on the context. I hope to sense more of avaris in later endeavours :)
- Rexy on February 19, 2012
- uhhh6677 on January 29, 2012
sephfire;839067 wrote: Wait, "Inspired by sephfire"?
Pssh. You make this style sound better than I [i]ever[/i] did. :mrgreen:
Thanks dude, that means alot! :)
- avaris on January 28, 2012
Pssh. You make this style sound better than I [i]ever[/i] did. :mrgreen:
- sephfire on January 27, 2012
- jordanrooben on January 27, 2012
Anyway, this has a really cool atmosphere. Love it!
- Kuolema on January 26, 2012
- WesternZypher on January 26, 2012
