ReMix:Final Fantasy VIII "Where Is My Fault?" 4:19

We come to the end of a winding road -- eight more worthy selections from Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora receiving featured ReMix spotlights. There's no more charming and captivating a way to close things out than Bluelighter's folksy adaptation of "Tell Me", mingling Chinese instruments with European ones, as well as lush vocals by his sister Anna alongside several skilled performers:

• Bluelighter: arrangement, production, mixing
• Anna Hanabi: vocals
• SableProvidence: flutes (dizi, bass dizi, xiao)
• Khoo Sze Ning: guzheng
• GuitarSVD: erhu
• Ian Martyn: bass, mandolin
• dpMusicman: percussions (djembe, triangle, shakers)

Bluelighter had a lot to say on this one, but then again, Guillaume learned quite a lot when he was challenged to stretch himself here:

"This arrangement is based on "Tell Me", a theme based on the character Quistis in the game. In the scene, she realized her difficulty to communicate with Squall, her taciturn student. Hence the title, "Where Is My Fault?"

Some instrument players offered to collaborate for this album project. For me, it was a great opportunity to work in a different style, to use some acoustic instruments that I'm not used to. After discussion with Jorito and DFW, I oriented my arrangement to an Asian style. I first wanted to use harp, but they convinced me to replace it with guzheng to give a more Asian feel.

I enriched my knowledge on these different instruments. Notably, some Asian instruments which I didn't know the sonority or the playing. I was a little worried about guzheng, written firstly for harp, and whose playing is different. I was not sure of its possibilities, but Khoo played it very well!

SableProvidence guided me about flutes and their tessitura. He explained to me that the 2nd voice at the ending was too low for a standard flute, hence the bass dizi. He also helped me to find some contacts, so I could collaborate with dpMusicman for percussion and Khoo for guzheng.

I asked my sister to sing on this piece. She has not yet collaborated on an album project and I knew her voice would well match with what I wanted for this arrangement.

I'm grateful to all instrument players who have collaborated with me. It was a great experience to work with all them! I thank also Jorito and DFW for their advice, on the arrangement and on the mixing.

About the inspiration, I built this arrangement bit by bit. At the beginning, I only wanted an acoustic piece with a female voice with some long notes, representing the character Quistis. I added a pad and a high synth to give more consistency.

At the third part (cf. breakdown), I felt it should be the culminant point for this mix. I added drum, bass... To reinforce the rhythm, I wanted an instrument like guitar, but lighter. Ian, who was also part of the album project, played mandolin as well as bass; he suggested it would be a good option. After this part, I was blocked a moment to continue. I decided in the fourth section to keep a marked rhythm and to start a new harmony. I realized this harmony could be well married with the main melody. It was also a good way to give more importance to the vocals. The dizi takes over the vocal at part five and plays a new melody based on the same harmony. I concluded this arrangement (pt 6 and 7) with a part in the same mood as the beginning. Enjoy."

Guillaume's deep dive on his learnings by way of these fresh collaborations was a joy to behold. You can see and appreciate how all of the components gradually fell into place for a special end result, as judge DarkSim effectively summarized this piece's graceful beauty:

"I love the sound of the guzheng in this. Great choice to replace the harp with it, and it works so well with the mandolin too!

The overall vibe of the track feels very laid-back. There is a dynamic range, but it's more like being on a beach and watching the tide come in and out than something more urgent. I can close my eyes and drift off, listening to the live performances, and particularly the voice singing the gentle melody. It's like a lullaby without any words."

A serene way to button up this latest FF8: SeeDs of Pandora album mixflood, the case can be made that this worldly piece would be the album track that earned the biggest nod of appreciation from Nobuo Uematsu himself. We'll have to find out one day, but Bluelighter, Anna Hanabi, and team certainly have all the polish and trappings of an official Square arrange album. We're spoiled by transcedant instrumental & vocal performances that vivdly bring Bluelighter's arrangement to life, thankfully encouraged by the helpful, aspirational nudging of the album directors!

In any universe, any one disc from SeeDs of Pandora would be a triumph, but Darkflamewolf and Jorito have spread strong FF8 tributes across five discs! We hope this latest mixflood plants the SeeDs for more and more VGM fans to enjoy this community masterwork!