ReMix:Bloodborne "The Nightmare Ends" 5:49

Our first ReMix of Bloodborne comes from - who else? - RoeTaKa (Alex Roe), who's been killing it lately with dark, striking, atmospheric arrangements from the Souls series. This deliberate, sustained, & dramatic orchestral piece arranges three related sources from the game into a seamless cinematic narrative that builds intensity & emotion as it progresses:

"I've been playing quite a bit of Bloodborne lately and it's another success by FROM Software and Miyazaki. I can't get enough of their work. I hoped it would have an amazing soundtrack and it delivered - possibly my favourite OST of the Souls titles. It also made it really difficult to think of ways to remix it. It has such good orchestra and that's what I do, so it took me a while to think of something I thought was worth people's time. I thought it was odd that Bloodborne didn't have its own unique credits song, so I took some inspiration there to come up with something that might fit, but I wouldn't say it is completely fitting. Depends how you felt about the game, I guess.

The Hunter's Dream is a place the player visits often and I wanted to remix this first, because it would be so well known. "Moonlit Melody" is essentially the same track, but has a different mood to it. I wanted people to feel like they were hearing the original at first, but then it completely changes and becomes something more dramatic than atmospheric. I used the melody of "Lullaby for Mergo" to sort of create some unsettling undertone in the middle and end. I just thought it made a nice contrast. It was nice to create something like this. I do like to take a step back from the more epic tracks and create more moving and emotional pieces of music. And I hope you enjoy it!"

I actually had a pretty crappy day yesterday, so I certainly welcome the "nightmare" ending & this arrangement kinda takes you on a cathartic journey where you emerge more whole & reconciled than you begin; Larry Oji writes:

"RoeTaKa excels at dark, pensive pieces, so this is quite the tribute to three of Ryan Amon's works from the Bloodborne score, focusing on "Hunter's Dream". Since "Hunter's Dream" and "Moonlit Melody" are variations of one another, they indeed piece together seamlessly, and the very subtle reference to "Lullaby for Mergo" at 2:25 adds just the right accent in the background. While the source tunes have minimalist textures to them to serve the game, Alex succeeds in giving the themes a measure more fullness through airy strings and even more reliance on vox. I could easily envision this as a Bloodborne credits theme, so I thought Alex shouldn't second guess himself with how effectively this piece would fit the bill.

Besides Bloodborne, Amon's got other top flight scoring credits to his name like Elysium and Assassin's Creed: Unity; it may be wishful thinking, but I'd love to hear RoeTaKa get an opportunity to collaborate with Ryan on a project down the road. He'd make the most of it, as Alex continues to take a special level of care with delicate yet full-sounding arrangements that are both beautiful and memorable."

It's not easy to create this particular sense of space, tension, & atmosphere, but Alex has it down to both an art AND a science; I've been waiting to post our first Bloodborne mix, and I had an inkling who it would be coming from - RoeTaKa continues to turn his admiration for the Souls series & its composers into living, breathing art, and the world is better for it.