Pyre - Darren Korb

Track list:

1. In the Flame
2. Downriver
3. Downside Ballad
4. Path to Glory
5. Life Sentence
6. Surviving Exile
7. Forbidden Knowledge
8. Moon-Touched
9. Through the Valley
10. Night Howlers
11. The Herald
12. Mourning Song
13. The Eight Scribes
14. Glorious Tradition
15. Flutter Fly
16. Thrash Pack
17. A Step Closer
18. Dirty Deal
19. Sinking Feeling
20. Dread Design
21. Snake Soul
22. Strange Voyage
23. Quest for Honor
24. Knights of the Sea
25. Vagrant Song
26. Shattered Lands
27. Talon Sheath
28. Sky Dance
29. Certain Plan
30. Grand Ceremony
31. To the Stars
32. The Old Ways
33. Never to Return
34. Time Passes
35. The Blackwagon
36. Rage of Demons
37. Will of the Scribes
38. New Union
39. Bound Together

Running time: 110 minutes
Released: 2017

So I am going to break the chain here and jump forward a long way for this post. Why? Because I have just finished playing through the Pyre campaign and I have the feeling that this listen might be more relevant in closer proximity to to my having played the game. 

I loved Darren Korb's score for Bastion and was very struck by the music for Transistor too, so I bought the Pyre soundtrack when the game first came out last year. I didn't buy the game until last week, though it was always on my "to do" list. Whilst actually playing Pyre I didn't really notice the music that much - unlike the other two games where it was a key plank of the experience. I think that is probably because I didn't get on with much of the gameplay so I was furiously trying to get through it ASAP to experience the story elements. I will probably dip in and out of relaying some game commentary here, but that isn't a priority here.

This is a long one - almost 2 hours. I might break it up; we'll see,

The opening song, for it is such, is the story of the Rites that you perform in the game, lyrics speak to the nature of the goal in the gameplay, the situation the narrative focuses on. I'm not a huge fan of this approach. The voices work well enough together but the music lacks the immediate connection of Korb's previous two soundtracks somehow - perhaps because it is in service to the song here, not doing it's own thing. This soundtrack is a mix of songs and little in game themes - typified in the opening couplet with one of each.

Downside Ballad is a much more promising track, with time to establish an atmosphere - a sort of distant and sombre one - and a sound that builds nicely. I find I cannot place it within the game, but I think this is actually a positive. It is a slow, peaceful number - pleasant without ever really drawing me into full engagement. It is not, however, a ballad.

Ah, now. The first sounds that really hark back to the richer tapestry and unique flavour of  the previous soundtracks. All clicks, whirs and electricity. Path to Glory brings some urgency, some greater tone, deeper sounds and a busy nature. More of this please! It's not that the slower tunes lack character, but that they don't really offer the same kind of experience as music. The keyboards sometimes have a kind of tinny, chiming sound to them which I find destroys the atmosphere that the notes might otherwise create. What really struck me about Bastion was how it was just good music that happened to be game music. Here I feel it is more clearly supporting the game, and less a statement in its own right; I am not sure it is quite as effective. 

As mentioned above I didn't really clock the music so much whilst playing, but it is only fair to say that composing for games should place the game first and foremost, so complaining that this doesn't necessarily work as well removed from its context is not an entirely fair criticism. However moreso than I remember either of the other soundtracks doing, this disappeared for me in play. Now outside of that context it is up and down.

I think, though, that it is growing on me. The longer pieces, at least - where Korb has enough time to really grow into his themes. Or, no... it's the higher energy pieces that work for me more. There is a correlation there. I would imagine that the longer tracks are largely those played during the Rites, the 3-a-side not really sports strategy game that forms the meat of Pyre's play time. I've probably heard most of them a lot over the past week, as I plodded through, without taking them in. I was focused on making the damn things finish as fast as I could because I found them tedious and un-fun. Pyre is a game where I really liked the characters and some of the writing but where much else - the Rites, the presentation of the story - fell very flat for me.

I do not see myself building a connection to these tracks in the way that I have with Korb's other work.

I think what maybe sets Pyre apart so far is that it doesn't draw me in or establish that immediate connection. There is good richness and depth in the work here, but it doesn't strike me as something to sit and listen to... it is a bit more detached than that. It's "nice" but not demanding, not attention grabbing. Less big and bold on the whole than Bastion, not as resonant or emotional as Transistor. Of course, by the time I get to Transistor - if I get that far! - I will likely have forgotten the game and its context altogether, which is kinda sad; I'm not sure when I played through it, but it came out a few months before this project started. Steam says I bought it in November 2014 when I was actually managing a good turnover of posts and had designs on, y'know, actually making it through everything. Two and a half years later I'm still on C!

Thrash Pack has energy, but this one leaves me cold. I'm not a big guitar hero fan. Whilst screaming guitars can be great, I find most of the time I bounce off and there needs to be something more to it. Here it's a bit too American garage rock bank for my taste; it's someone's kinda thing and more power to them, but it isn't mine.

Hearing the tunes playing back now, it is funny how they can be so familiar, and yet simultaneously I cannot place them in the context of the game I only finished last night. I cannot bring to mind the screen or screens associated with each piece very easily. I get the impression from the track list and the vague voice at the back of my skull that we are progressing through the first pass of the game, meeting each of the opposing triumvirates in turn, their theme and their Rite accompaniment. Because I disliked the Rites themselves so much I never clocked whether it was a tune for each opponent or a tune for each arena. I did recognise certain themes though, or thought I did. I'll find out a bit later into this listen...

I mind my thoughts on the game are already scrambled. Dread Design is a very familiar track, and I relate it to a particular opponent very strongly, but I still can't quite work out if it was attached to the enemy or the place I first met them... I think the former.

Strange Voyage carries a jauntiness that I remember really liking in game, too. It's one of the tracks that actually does have an immediate connection for me, despite being on the more pastoral end of the spectrum. Jaunty but relaxed, then. The sound though is big and bold, so while it is clearly a "downtime" piece it is much more engaging for the big riffs. The name has connotations of travel - one of the parts of the game I did really like was the movement around between the different locations, different styles of backdrop, overlaying each other in a pleasing way as you hopped around. The first time in the Sea of Solis area was one of my highlights from gameplay.

The naval jauntiness is part of the Knights of the Sea, the Pyrehearts. Probably the most frustrating of all opponents in the game for me, but their theme - and this is clearly their theme - was one of the pieces that stood out immediately when I heard it in game. I am pleased to find it as enjoyable removed from the context. The rolling nature of the rhythm is just gorgeous, and whilst the brilliant light riff that opens the tune gets somewhat swallowed by the build up of rich textured sounds the piece as a whole still works.

One area where Korb shines is in making low, bassy guitar riffs sing. He gives them a resonance, a big deep sound, creating a crucible for his other sounds. It would be trite to call it "twangy" but there is certainly a swagger or twang to his best basslines which is essential to the DNA of his tracks, and a key ingredient in making his work stand out and be recognised. 

Still 11 tracks to go and this is starting to feel a little bit of a marathon as I am aware of the time passed, and that yet to come. However I am certainly appreciating the tracks more now, having grasped the tone of them better through exposure. That isn't to say they're all great and I am now elevating this soundtrack above his others, but that I am more able to see it for itself and less in comparison to past work. 

The bassiness that I like in Korb's work does tend to push the tracks to darker sounds, and when he tries to lighten the mood over a base built from bass I sometimes feel as though there is a fundamental conflict within the tune, as if it is fighting to go two different ways at once. Contrast can be a very effective tool in all the arts, but just occasionally it feels as though it is all getting away from him a bit. 

I feel like I am throwing unconnected thoughts together rather than making coherent points. That's probably been the case for longer than I would care to admit with these posts. As they happen less frequently the lessons learned in the past are fading, and every paragraph turns into a throwaway thought, like this one.

It's always good to know your flaws, but it's not meant to be so that you can live down to them!

I was slightly surprised (I'm not sure why) to find that the male voice in the songs is Korb's own. The female voice is Ashley Barrett, whose tones I recognised immediately since she was key to the appeal of Transistor. They work well together and whilst I am not necessarily convinced of the songwriting, I can't really fault the approach of the male/female duet. So far, though, whilst the tracks have grown on me I don't think there's anything here that I am likely to dive straight for, to actively decide to play again.

It feels quite sudden, to be in the final stretch. I couldn't say the same for the gameplay experience. That seemed to drag out longer than it needed to, with doing anything taking more button presses and more screens than it should in order to see the better part of the content - the static art, the writing. Here I look up and find just 2 tracks left. I'm not quite sure where the latter third of the album as gone... reading back up the page there isn't that much I have written; did I zone out? Unsure. 

The final track is placed over the credits, unsurprisingly. It plays as a camera pans over an image representing all of the characters that make up your group in the game. It is another song that chronicles what happened, naming them one by one and giving a one line summary. I don't find it makes for a compelling song at all... which is a shame because the reason for this approach is embedded in game content, two minstrels form part of the ritual around the Rites and watching, recording and recounting is clearly a theme. It could have been a powerful ending, but unfortunately the actual song they came up with to represent this is rather weak, the contrived nature of its form and the prominence of the lyrics disappoints.

Like the game itself, the Pyre soundtrack is a little bit of a let-down. Not because it's not good, but because it's not great. There are some familiar grooves, crests and peaks in there, but there is also material here that doesn't work too well - though not quite to the extent that I will ditch anything though.