ReMix:Final Fantasy VII "Noodlin'" 2:11

Trenthian... now that's a name I've not heard in a long time... John St.John returns after eight years with a piece that's even older, resurrecting a live performance on solo piano from almost 13 years ago that finds him improvising/meditating on two themes from FF7:

"I had just got a new 88-key keyboard, and was noodling around in December of 2007. I lost this recording to time until recently. It isn't anything more than a segment from a longer noodling session to get acquainted with my equipment. Since it was unplanned and unpracticed, it's far from perfect, but it's vintage and full of fun noise. Post it if ya'll want to. Fun Fact: I used to play a MUCH simpler arrangement of this when I was a teenager for my grandmother who called it "that Nintendo song.""

So yes, bit of a time capsule with this one - true of many/most of our mixes, of course, but doubly so here :) There are a couple flubs on some of the bigger chords, but it's a pretty clean runthrough otherwise, especially since it was - as the title emphasizes - just "noodling"; wish my piano noodles tasted this good. It's not a squeaky-clean production but the dynamics & tone of the piano are preserved and I did find the noise bed rather charming, actually. Liontamer evaluated:

"Really glad to have you submitting things once again, even if it means digging in the ole' archives. The dynamics here are what really make the arrangement shine, and it's hard to go wrong with two FF7 themes that already work well together like PB&J. Great job with this short-and-sweet rendition, John! A beauty. :-)"

The performance is emotive and it does get intense, so it's not all just mellow/wistful nostalgia. Aside from some finger-slips, the dynamic contrast & timing are both very personalized, and Uematsu's themes do blend quite well in this setting, as Larry says. In a word, it's purdy - from the simple purity of the deliberately spaced opening arpeggios to the bombast of the fortissimo chorus, Mr. St. John embraces & further embellishes the melodic romanticism of the source material. Almost lost to time, and from an artist we haven't heard from in far too long, this brief-but-substantive solo piano reflection is well worth your time!