ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Terra's Love" 4:04

It's Valentine's Day, and we've got an appropriate classical/new age FF6 ReMix from Rebecca E. Tripp that we think you'll love whether you're jubilant OR ambivalent about the occasion:

"In this arrangement, I poured most of my wistful emotions from childhood and onward. I resonate(d) with Terra rather a lot, but there is an aspect of Terra inside all of us -- an ever-longing fragment of the human soul which pines for something indefinable; it is a child who never stops growing, like a plant searching for the light. That is what Terra is to me.

I chose "Awakening" to represent this theme because I think both the title and the melody communicate what I'm trying to express very well -- that life is a process of awakening (especially where the heart is concerned) and that if we feel a sense of inexplicably longing, wistfulness, or restlessness, it most likely means that the "heart" is reaching blindly outward, seeking the light. Every time we discover and rediscover this "light," the wistfulness dissipates for a time, and there is blissful satisfaction.

Terra's inability to love (at least for the first part of her journey) is reflective of her lack of self-awareness as well as self-acceptance. Learning to love means learning to embrace the "light" from within, for without this, it is impossible to interface properly with the world. To use a metaphor, without the "dots," the yin and yang remain eternally separate -- therefore, ignorant as well as isolated.

Finding the "heart" simultaneously implies shedding light and compassion onto one's dark side or "shadow," therefore accepting that there are "darker" aspects to that which is plainly merciful and virtuous (a la Terra learning uncomfortable truths about her past), while also perceiving the lighter and more helpful aspects of that which we ordinarily shun or hide from ourselves (a la Terra embracing her powers as an Esper)."

Beautiful stuff - the music AND the writing... reminds me of The Last Jedi a bit, thematically. As a general observation, I wish humanity at large would move away from personifying/imbuing the heart with aspects of consciousness & emotion, as those are really the brain's purview (and we need to be thinking about the biology/physicality of our brains a lot more!), but it's still better than ascribing anything to the "soul" - and this is hardly a sentiment for Valentine's Day, so I'll shut up now ;) If you've been following along, you'll know that Rebecca arranged this theme AND "Terra" about a month ago, but this is a distinct arrangement with a more intimate & mystical vibe to it. Gario writes:

"Great track you've got here - I'd argue even exceeding your normally high bar for quality. It's perfectly orchestrated, and the humanization is on point in this. It's arguably conservative, but there's quite a few cool tricks with the metering and backing harmonies that keeps people on their toes. The ties to the opening theme at the end is a brilliant way to push more out of a well tread source, too, and it works surprisingly well."

I'll echo that point on humanization; elements feel very organic & also well-blended in this piece. Excellent, atmospheric, & very delicate work from Rebecca; one of her best!