Shovel Knight "We, Under the Stars" 2:50

The dream team of jnWake and Emunator align to bring a stellar twist to Shovel Knight's campfire theme, "The Starlit Wilds". Let me start by saying: jnWake. Come on, man. Leave some tasty chords for the rest of us! With one of the best voice-leading ears on the scene, even Wake's accidents -- or should I say accidentals? -- sound spectacular!

"As a silly story, the chord progression from the intro was born by accident as I was toying around with different chords for the main melody. I was playing a AMaj7 on my left hand but my ring finger slipped from C# to C and that accidentally created a beautiful major-to-minor progression that inspired the tone of the cover!"

jnWake's arrangement of this solemn tune augments the story of the titular Knight's challenging and hope-filled quest to rescue Shield Knight. The first half is wonderfully subtle, evoking sleepy, weary feelings with calm, layered pianos, sweeping SFX, and sparky chiptune blips, then evolving into a rousing synthwave groove that stirs up a confident resolve. Judge proph says:

"a beat comes in at 1:18 and we get a huge genre shift. what a surprise! the accelerando into this is a neat idea too, as a method to help feel like it's being kickstarted. there's some fun rhythmic elements, a filter squelch transition, and we're back to the fire sfx as the Knight wakes up. a bit of a recap and then it's done. i love the suspended chord right before the end, and then adding in the color tones to help make it feel not quite settled at the end (that b2 is delicious)."

Speaking of delicious, the sound design and sample choice is on point. jnWake credits Emunator here, particularly for his snare sample selection:

"[Emunator] joined me with SFX assistance, also rendering a few samples for me to use (bless that snare!)"

Indeed, bless that snare! Now, let's spin this tune and join judge paradiddlesjosh for some s'mores!

"Damn, y'all were really cookin' with this one! Short and sweet arrangement, clean production, tells a clear story. (Anyone else have a hankering for s'mores after hearing this one? No, just me? More for me, then!) Get outta here! YES"