Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons "Pasillo de los Hermanos" 3:23

We've had "Twisted Systerz" before, but are you ready for dos hermanos? Prepare for a double dose of rarities, with Audio Mocha's pasillo performance of the main theme for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons! Inspired by DoD's September format -- which required coverage of games never previously submitted in a DoD -- Audio Mocha did one better: not just an unsubmitted game, but an unsubmitted genre too:

"This was my submission to Dwelling of Duels' Fresh Month 2025. I've been on a break for a while, but I knew I wanted to come back with an entry different than my usual tropical electric guitar styling. One thing that I've been wanting to do more is making more music with my tiple, which is a Colombian 12-string instrument that is like a smaller guitar with 4 courses of three strings. The Colombian tiple is known particularly for playing pasillos and bambucos, which are based 3/4 or 6/8 time. For Fresh Month, I wanted to make a track inspired by traditional pasillos but including violin and using my Coda EDC flute (which is basically an ocarina) and my cajón to go for a fully live feel using the tools I've got on hand.

I got on VGLS to find something from a game I've played before and found that, somehow, there was a Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons sheet on the website. I played Brothers a long while ago and really dug it (been meaning to replay it now that it has actual co-op play), so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to represent a less known game with a virtually unheard genre in VGM. I took the melody of the theme song and treated it like a species counterpoint exercise to create the voices for the violin, ocarina, and bass. My biggest challenge for this piece was the violin; I've only been playing for about 5 years but I've been feeling more comfortable with it that I wanted it to be a part of this track. I do wish that I had an acoustic violin available but my point for this track was to use the tools available to me at the moment and I like how it all came together."

This was a fun introduction to the genre and the tiple for judge prophetik music:

"melody really works well in triple meter. opens with the tiple and bass - what a unique sound that the tiple has! i'm not familiar with it - and adds the violin and flute soon after. [...] overall the contrapunctal elements represented by the flute are nice adds. the solo section with the tiple is nice - i love the lead tone of it, like a really wide 12-string. violin solo is pretty darn solid for a newer player. there's a bit of a recap coming out of the violin solo and a final big hit to end it. [...]

i liked the live feel and interpretation of the original, and i think that the overall ensemble works really well together."

Fellow judge and Sudamericano brother-in-arms jnWake was won over by the character emanating from Audio Mocha's performances:

"Thanks for noting the instruments on the write-up, otherwise I'd have assumed it was a 12-string guitar. Always fun to learn something new and to see a different genre here. [...]

This begins with the melody that starts around ~1:02 in the source, now on tiple. I really like how the tiple sounds, very lush and clean, lovely! [...]

Arrangement is fun, you did a nice job adapting the source to the new genre/rhythm/instrumentation. [...]

Production is good, the tiple recording in particular is excellent and the mixing is clear [...]

Overall, this is a great track! Fun idea to adapt the source to a "pasillo" and you executed it well."

Kudos to Audio Mocha for taking creative risks and not overthinking needing the perfect configuration to try his hand at pasillo. Lead by the beautiful tone of the tiple, Audio Mocha shines with a bouncy, bright, and earnest exhibition of this Latin American art form applied to VGM!