ReMix:Suikoden II "Do You Remember?" 4:11

Love? The 21st night of September? The time? All of the above, perhaps? Either way, we've got a gorgeous vocal acoustic/folk ballad arrangement of Suikoden 2 from Jorito & co.:

• Flute & penny whistle: Lauren the Flute (Lauren Liebowitz)
• Vocals & lyrics: JoyDreamer (Anne Marie Joy Jørgensen)
• Violin(s): Trev Wignall
• Acoustic guitar: XPRTNovice (Joe Zieja)
• All the other stuff: Jorito (Jorrith Schaap)

This was made for the sadly-abandoned PS1 20th anniversary album, and would definitely have been a highlight - very emotive ReMix which leans on expressive vocal & instrumental performances for full impact. Jorrith writes:

"I was waiting for the vocal recordings for another track for the PS1 20th anniversary album and basically just had some free time on my hands. Since I felt like making another track for the album, I did some random browsing of PS1 RPG tunes when I stumbled upon this beautiful piece by Miki Higashino. It instantly inspired me and just begged to be remixed.

So I just started working on something, replacing the piano from the original with a guitar arpeggio and playing the leads on a flute VST doubled by a whistle. Next was the violin part, which I added as a countermelody, and, a few hours after finding the song, I had a decent WIP going.

I passed the preview to Ivan, who said "Hey, it'd be cool if you could get a flautist, I think I saw somebody on YouTube who could do it." So I did some searching and found Lauren, who incidentally created her own take on "Reminiscence" not too long ago. She was happy to work together with me on this track for some great flute and whistle parts."

Lauren notes:

"This is my first time participating on an OC ReMix track and it's been a great experience. I really appreciated working with Jorrith, even when we kept running into the technical limitations of my instruments. I think it was a learning experience and a discovery process for both of us in the best possible way, and I'm really thrilled with how it turned out!"

Back to Jorito:

"As fate would have it, in the related videos I found Joy's vocal cover of "Reminiscence," and it was so good and moving that I immediately approached her if she would be so kind to re-record for me. Again, a very enthusiastic reply and another great performance."

Joy sums it up:

"I was really thrilled when Jorrith reached out to me about this collaboration and I was honored to work with these amazingly talented musicians. It was a lot of fun to record and I'd love to be part of something like this sometime again."

Jorito continues:

"At that point, I basically felt that my remaining MIDI parts weren't good enough anymore and that I needed more real instruments. I approached Trev, who also claimed a track for the album, for the violin and string parts, and XPRTNovice, who I worked with before, and again, happy faces, and very skilled & inspiring performances."

Trev agrees:

"I recorded my parts with an SM57 in my violin studio in Chapel Hill, NC, where I teach and practice. The violin is of the 19th century and crafted in Mittenwald, Germany. I really love this track for its orchestration and beautiful harmony, and there one section where I overdubbed myself 16 times to emulate a string section. I'm happy I could contribute!"

And finally, one LAST time from Jorito:

"I really feel all these performances did the track a lot of good and you hardly notice the MIDI in the background anymore. :)

So, in hindsight, this track came together as a set of stumblings, happy accidents, and collaborations with great artists that are very cool people to work with. And I think it shows in the end result. I really dig it and it would have been nowhere as good without these talented performers. Was it worth all the hard work of coordinating, synchronising, and playing producer? You bet!"

Phew... lot of quotes, but worth reading for all the background... this is truly a modern collaboration, with the MIDI bits & pieces of Jorrith's original vision slowly being chipped away by capable, talented human beings. Reading the comments, one gets a sense that everyone was on the same page about the ultimate vision, and it came together in a way that feels very natural and organic; beautiful stuff. Sir_NutS writes:

"Yeah this is really, really, REALLY good. Those flutes are performed with a lot of soul. The vocals are spot on (holy crap that moment at 03:14), and the solo violin is exquisite. Production overall is excellent. One of the best remixes I've had the pleasure to review so far, just lovely."

Panel was unanimous, and I think you'll hear why; from Joy's ethereal vocal harmonies to Lauren's expressive flute & whistle to Trev's sublime violin to Joe's acoustic guitar that ties it all together, this is simply beautiful. It's a shame the full album didn't come together, but it's still a triumph that it resulted in this ReMix; highly recommended!