ReMix:Dark Souls II "Like a Dream" 4:03

More Dark Souls excellence from Alex, this time from the sequel & with a mellower, percussive style. The artist pairs a relaxed beat with supple & dark strings, emotional piano, and acoustic guitar for a cinematic blend of orchestral & smooth Latin jazz; a dark-yet-breezy waltz:

"So I really love Dark Souls II, it's a great sequel. I knew I was going to remix this song before the game was released, but I wanted to play the game first. Unlike my previous Souls mixes, I just went for something more laid back and easier to listen to. I had a lot of ideas for this song, even making it sound like a Bond track, haha. I instinctively made it into a 3/4 arrangement, because it just flowed nicer for this style of song. Making this remix reminded me of old times. I just had a lot of fun doing it and that's all I can really ask for."

It still kinda has a modern Bond feel to it, where things are tropical/Mediterranean and otherwise idyllic, but there's a dark undercurrent of conspiracy or violence or large Asian men with bladed hats. The juxtaposition of such a comfortable, relaxin'-in-ma-khakis groove with dramatic string writing is quite captivating, and piano/guitar serve to further blur the lines between a leisurely stroll around the hacienda and something a bit darker. The weather's calm - for now - but on the distant horizon you can sense something disruptive, even catastrophic, brewing. Emunator writes:

"This combination of instruments, and particularly the acoustic guitar and piano samples that you're using, hearken back to the old days of OCR. This strongly reminds me of Disco Dan's "Green Amnesia" or Scott Peeples' "Another Inspiration." While the sample quality isn't totally realistic, your production quality has kept up with today's standards and your arrangement is fantastic, especially for such a simplistic source. This really does remind me of the "good old days."

Nothing more to say about this, I think this is excellent. I love how each of your Dark Souls submissions have been so personalized and unique from one-another, and from the sources that you're remixing. You're building up quite a nice catalog here Alex!"

Brent adds:

"Chill, relaxing, well produced. The Dark Souls drama is fully intact but tastefully laid back. I enjoy the gradual build into dispassionate climax. There is a bit of muddiness introduced by that bass drum sound, but I feel it’s pretty well controlled. Not much more to say than that. Good job, man."

I concur with both judges :) Alex has certainly proven both his affinity for From Software's franchise and his ability to take its music to amazing new places, and I'm continually impressed at how each new arrangement carves out its own identity. Great stuff!