ReMix:Paladin's Quest "Sleep, Beloved Child" 3:30

Our FIRST EVAR ReMix of Kohei Tanaka's soundtrack to SNES RPG Paladin's Quest is our second mix today from Archangel (Jaka Čibej), following up his reflective FF9 "Prelude" interpretation with a somber folk/ballad meditation on loss & lament:

"Submission no. 13! This is another arrangement I made years ago, back in 2011, and never submitted until now for some reason. I don't know why I keep hoarding music and storing it for years on end. It's tremendously annoying, but as a perfectionist, I guess I have a hard time just letting go.

I remember making this when I went to Sweden to study there for a year. My first month there was kind of bumpy because I didn't really know anyone, and I'm not really the outgoing type. I missed my family and was kind of worried that my nephew, who was a year old at the time, would completely forget me. I knew it wouldn't have really made a difference if he had - I'd come back, we'd play with his toys for an hour or two and everything would be back to the way it was before I left. But there was still that uneasy feeling I couldn't get rid of, and that got me thinking how horrible it must be to lose a child. To be forced to live with that terrifying feeling that something important is missing from your life and there's no way to fill that gaping void.

That's when I remembered Smash, the desperate miner from Paladin's Quest who lost his son. You meet him in a bar to ask for his help, but he only finds the courage to help you if you convince the pianist to play "Godom Lullaby," which was Smash's son's favorite song. When he finally hears it, Smash says, "It's as if my son's telling me, 'You have to hang in there, dad!'" Pretty heart-breaking. The fact that "Godom Lullaby" is incredibly melancholic doesn't really help either.

All this rumination inspired me to make this arrangement that's part lullaby, part elven lament and part Native American spirit dance. For anyone out there dealing with loss - I hope this inspires you to go on. It's hard, but it's an inherent part of being human.

Enjoy the track and take care."

I don't even like to talk about these things, now; becoming a parent has changed how I process information, and I find myself getting kicked in the gut by even little things like Drax's backstory in Guardians of the Galaxy... that's all it takes. Jaka does a superb job describing the aesthetic & instrumentation of this arrangement - "part lullaby, part elven lament and part Native American spirit dance" sums things up better than I ever could. I'm reminded of the following dialog:

Legolas: "A lament for Gandalf."
Merry: "What do they say about him?"
Legolas: "I have not the heart to tell you. For me the grief is still too near."

Sir_NutS writeS:

"This is a pretty emotive arrangement, which exudes a very nostalgic and melancholic feeling, with touches of sadness. The samples aren't the best, but they're used in the best way possible, with attention to detail in the performances which makes their quality almost irrelevant."

Powerful & pensive, Jaka mined the depths of the game narrative and his own personal experiences at the time and crafted something unique and moving; highly recommended in its own right, and perhaps an effective musical outlet for dealing with whatever challenges & tragedies life throws at you.