ReMix:Secret of Mana "Psalm of the Summer Sky" 3:57

From the "playtime" disc of Esther's Dreams comes an upbeat, chirpy, & altogether positive EDM/pop arrangement of Secret of Mana from Meteo Xavier:

"I was... 8(?) when I first heard "Color of the Summer Sky" and it was a religious moment of itself. Although I like to play Secret of Mana during the autumn season, the song itself really does sound like summer during childhood. When I hear it, it makes me think of vacation Bible school and other good church-related summer memories, and that's where "Psalm of the Summer Sky" comes from.

I really didn't have a plan for how I was going to do this. I'd been working on trying to get a more aggressive, EDM style going, and I wanted to do a track that daddy and daughter could both enjoy on its own merits. I specifically chose a lead triangle because something in its tonal quality had an emotional and innocent feel perfect for what I was going for, lots of upbeat EDM SFX, bells, hard-hitting beats, a smoky electric piano that also really hit home some feels without getting too emotional or melodramatic, and then later some aggressive leads to please the adults in the room. :D This is my first track where I used a lot of glitching too, and, ultimately, I was trying to go for a significant, upbeat dance track that was sort of a mix between halc/Ben Briggs and bLiNd.

I did try to rectify some of my previous issues with repetitiveness with this track, but I admit I couldn't do it as well as I'd hoped. Because the beats were all pre-made sliced up stuff (much of it from other beats I'd made for failed songs), I had trouble trying to variate them and make fills, so I tried to ease up on the repetition by adding more percussion in at places and using Gross Beat to change up the beats at necessary points. The electric piano IS humanized in terms of velocity, but it still might sound mechanical. My only other grievance was I made the supersaw section too loud and big, but I couldn't find a way to reduce it and keep that section sounding full and right at the same time.

Still, without trying to toot my own horn too loudly, I think this is a major upgrade to my previous remix attempts and electronica production skills, and very definitely the best remix I've done yet. I hope you enjoy. :D This track was mastered by bLiNd. It also got Hiroki Kikuta's personal thumbs up for it. :D"

Sweet; digging the trills on the synth lead, and the glitching worked out quite well - added a little modern edge to the production without making things too explicitly slick/aggressive, which might not have sat right on the album. Emunator writes:

"This is pure saccharine - I'm actually quite fond of the arrangement and it's great to hear simple synth leads do their thing without too many frills... it really hearkens back to the days of old OC ReMix, but with nicer sounding production & mastering. In fact, this works great as a sister piece to 'Skyline' by Ziwtra. The whole arrangement is lovely, but the e-piano breakdown with the xylophone harmonies really warmed my heart."

It's a catchier, happier, poppier side of Meteo that suits him well & made for a great addition to Esther's Dreams - accessible, enjoyable, develops enough, and has some very fun synth noodling as the cherry on top!