ReMix:Secret of Mana "Sunny with a Chance of Thunder" 3:18

When Secret of Mana: Resonance of the Pure Land first dropped, it didn't include this chill & mellow chipjazz ReMix of "Distant Thunder" from the one and only halc, due mostly to passage of time & some missed emails. Drew let us know, and we've since added it back to the album, where it rightly belongs & fits in quite well, adding a slightly jazzier/funkier version of his fakebit aesthetic to an already diverse group of tracks. Album director Jorito writes:

"halc was one of the people who created a remix for the album, back when the album project just started. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago, and over time his track got misplaced somewhere down the line. But fear not, it has been found! And that's a good thing, because not only is "Gaia's Navel" an important track in the earlier parts of Secret of Mana, it's also a good excuse to listen to some re-discovered halc chippy goodness. With a pleasant mix of chiptune, smooth bass, and strings, it brings back memories of good times, and rain and thunderstorms mere distant thoughts."

Ditto all that; co-director The Nikanoru adds:

""Distant Thunder" is a bright theme for one of the first areas of the game -- and one I spent a lot of time listening to when I first played this game. halc's track brings a lot of smooth, easy-going head-nodding goodness to the table; I really like the contrast between the soft textures of the bass synth and strings, versus the sharper textures of the chiptunes and percussion. Just listening to this makes me want to sit in the sunshine, feel the warm wind, and watch rolling clouds over the circular valley of Gaia's Navel."

The man himself, who became a father back in September of last year (many congrats from all of us!), writes:

"Whoa! Didn't know this project was still gonna happen!... That said, I've been a bit disconnected from OCR and music in general lately due to life stuff, but it's good to be back on the scene, even if with an 8-year-old song. I always did like this song and had a blast making it. Real old-school halc, chips, and Rhodes, haha! I still fondly remember writing this one in between cashiering customers in the parking garage in Indy. XD

I didn't really grow up with SoM, but I've been playing it recently on my SNES Classic and it is certainly... one of a kind, if not a little wonky. What I can say for sure is that Kikuta-sensei is a god damn AMAZING composer and his work on this game is top-notch from start to finish, so I'm honored to be able to represent this great track of his. Much love and congrats to all the other great artists who contributed to this album, and as always, please to enjoy!~~<3"

Panel was unanimous, and since I guest-voted, I get to quote myself:

"Gets more interpretive as it goes, from an arrangement perspective, and I totally dig the soundscape - Drew kinda inverts things by putting more verb on the bass than many other elements, so it sits back in the mix as this dope, mellow lurker, while foreground textures seem closer. Chiptune & glitch elements are excellent; especially love how even individual notes within a line will mess with panning & jump around a bit, adding life to each passage. Mix does kinda just end, and in this case I wanted something a LITTLE bit more, even a surprise extra note or beat, but it's a nitpick - as others have said, this is classic halc, plays the arrangement relatively close but definitely breathes comfortable in its own skin, and packs in those classic 9-bit flavors we've been missing."

I couldn't have said it better myself, so I said it as well as I did ;) Enjoy halc's deservedly reinstated contribution to Resonance, which emerges from an eight-year cask as a fine, rich vintage!