FTL: Faster Than Light "...And There Was Light" 4:32

After mo.oorgan's impressive space-faring Pikmin debut not too many moons ago, it's time for older brother Emunator to also head to the stars! Emunator and fellow traveler ZackParrish take you light years away with Ben Prunty's modern classic title theme to FTL! We just posted another ReMix where the source tune was noticed by way of another arranger's take, so Emu appreciating Little V's version of the same theme (as do I!) was a treat to learn about:

"Another month, another FOMO-fueled last-minute Dwelling of Duels entry! I had to dig deep for this source tune, since this month's theme was PC Games, and I can count on one hand the number of PC games I've played in my life. FTL is not one of them - I actually knew about this source through Little V's remix from 2015, which gave me enough familiarity with the source that I felt like I could hack something together in 3 days. So, I dove in and let it rip.

The original source, although it is incredibly ear-wormy, has a pretty nebulous structure, so I crafted an arrangement that centered around two climactic moments and then built outward from there. Although I knew I wanted to let off the thrusters and allow this track to exist as a slow-burning melodic piece similar artists like M83 or Slowdive, I wanted at least one moment where the song could soar. Luckily, I know just the guitarist for the job - Zack dropped not only a ripping solo, but also tracked bass for the whole song as well as additional clean guitars that took the spacey vibes to another plane of existence.

The voice clips throughout the song are sampled from the Apollo 8 mission, which is available through NASA's public domain archives. The funny thing is, the vocal clips were a last-minute addition because certain parts of the song still felt empty... but I had to actually check myself on that because, by now, they feel like the song was built around them. I barely had to do any slicing to get the individual clips to fit with the pacing of the song, and the "let there be light" moment in particular fell right into place with the transition I'd already written.

All said, this song only took about 12 hours of work total over three days - the stars certainly aligned to bring this piece together on a tight timeline!"

Respect to Wes for once again proving to us fellow creatives that -- with sufficient reps -- we too could make something sound this good in a modicum of time. The copius inclusion of the Apollo 8 voice clips was a super classy touch of earnestness that also added a genuine gravity to things -- not an easy feat for a track best experienced in the weighttless of space. ;-P Judge and frequent Emu collaborator Chimpazilla echoed Emunator's POV that the voice clips ended up serving as a seamless component:

"I heard this one evolve through wips over the short course of its creation [...] The moon recordings fit in as if they were made for this [...] There's so much heart, whimsy, and mystery in this arrangement, and I love it."

As Emu mentioned, Zack's soaring guitar soloing from 3:03-3:55 is the icing on the lunar sunrise cake, the major crescendo before an equally poignant winddown voiced over by the Apollo 8 crew. Wonderful energy and dynamics throughout, we're hoping this will be another favorably received FTL title theme tribute according to Ben Prunty. :-) With a theme this good, and already this enduring in the annals of indie gaming, may Emu & Zack's rendition rocket straight to your musical pleasure centers!