ReMix:Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep "Sleeping Beauty Makes a Horrible Nightmare" 3:19

Two newcomers, two KH ReMixes, back to back - what are the odds? Once upon a time, back in the day, we'd always make fun of Capcom for their interminable & sometimes goofy naming conventions for Street Fighter sequels - "Hyper Champion Dash Rainbow Alpha HD Remix Zero," etc. I kinda feel like Square got jealous and decided to go full crazy on the Kingdom Hearts series - you've got 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, HD, Final, ReMIX (and yes, I know we can't poke fun of creative capitalization of that particular word), sure... but then things get... weird. Like Aaron Burr in Hamilton, I'd love to have been in the room where it happened:

• "What are we gonna call THIS one, then?"
• "I don't know... how about a fraction?"
• "Sure... how does 358/2 hit you?"
• "179! Genius!! ...but we *also* need to name at least ONE of these games "Birth by Sleep"...I feel very strongly about this, but will not explain why."
• "Aight"

...it might have gone. I've only ever met people born by procreation & gestation, but it's 2020, and it's long past time to be accepting of somnolent conception. But I digress: newcomer Neverback Music (Pierre Backer Ruth) makes a bombastic debut with this symphonic/cinematic march that channels a little Tchaikovsky, at least to me:

"Thanks to my Patreon, LoveArie, this song comes out!! This is an orchestral arrangement of two songs from Kingdom Hearts. It's a game that I love, including its soundtrack! I try to share my love for this game and for music with you through this little arrangement. I try to make a powerful orchestration where you can find communication between instruments. At the same time, I try to put my little own touch. I believe it's important to be able to create/arrange a track, but also to try to bring something new into the track.

I spend 56 hours to make this track. 46 hours to compose it and 10 hours to mix it. I have started by writing the full arrangement on piano, after that add more instruments, transitions, and little small details. I hope you will enjoy it."

Interesting that Pierre tracked the hours for discrete phases of work, and also interesting that this started out on piano - impressive, too, as hearing all those parts in advance takes some creative visualization. There's piano & solo vocal parts, later layered, in additional to the symphonic palette, and things develop from the more cinematic/scoring intro into an uptempo march of sorts. Judges were unanimous; Emunator writes:

"What a lovely, dynamic mix! The intro makes a powerful statement right from the start with colorful, deliberate instrumentation that ebbs and flows with care. The vocals were a particularly beautiful focal point. Around 1:19, things open up and give way to briefly-playful cadence before the arrangement kicks into full gear. I was impressed with how much mileage you got out of this - you explored so many different ideas and motifs without ever cutting yourself off prematurely, I was shocked to pull up the clock and realize that only 3 minutes had elapsed. That's definitely a sign of an engaging arrangement!"

Ditto all that; lovely to have both Key Jay & Neverback Music joining the club, both with KH mixes that, while different overall, share a particularly strong orchestral component as their respective highlights. Fantastic work from both artists, hope to hear more in the future!