The Banner Saga 2: Official Soundtrack - Austin Wintory

Track list:

1. An Oath, Until The End
2. The World is Breaking
3. Faces to the Wind  
4. Minds like Streams and Streams like Minds
5. A Path through the Skies
6. Under the Black Banner
7. Only Snow can Shield the Sun
8. Blades Yearn for Courageous Blood
9. Promises of Sanctuary
10. The Endlessly Grasping Bogs
11. Descended from Fire
12. Dragons in the Mud
13. Deep into the Rocks
14. Even the Trees can Smell your Blood
15. To the Skies
16. Children of the Fallen
17. Broken Shells
18. From the Shouting Rocks, his Eyes finally Opened
19. Paths Part
20. The Twilight Flight
21. With Eyes to the Endless Sun
22. Walls like Mountains
23. More Stars Tonight than Last Night
24. Threads Unweave
25. Our Steps, To the Night

Running time: 60 minutes
Released: 2016

A videogame soundtrack now. On those occasions I buy games on Steam, I find I am often splurging on the music too. This particular purchase was a no-brainer because the game it accompanies has a wonderful atmosphere that I am confident this will support. The Banner Saga is a series of epic Norse narrative, part wonderful story with dramatic and difficult choices, part crappy tactics battle engine. No matter how much I despise the latter, the qualities of the former made the first game one of the most moving things I had played to that point. The sequel is equally compelling and the art and aesthetic of the world they have created is so gorgeous. I tend not to overly notice the music in play because I am drawn to the text, the decisions. Now I get to listen to it in isolation, after finishing my playthrough earlier this afternoon.

The first track is short and sad, a mournful horn over stately drums definitely lays out the tone. There is tension and threat layered into this piece all the same though... this is not a static world. In fact, it is breaking - as we are told by the title of track two. This actually has a vocal of sorts leading it in, but it quickly fades away to give a very quiet background tune. Clearly a case of music written to support something, because there are no strong themes to follow in the first couple of minutes. It develops a percussion-led rumble in the last third, but the most interesting line is the tight string part that adds melody, a strained tune, but one that I would like to have heard more of.

Not to give any spoilers away, but I found the sequel to disappoint in the final throws. It opened brilliantly and was properly epic, but I found myself disliking the progression of decisions as it tapered to a close in addition to hating the core tactical aspect. The reason for that hatred is a system that wants you to keep enemies alive, but badly hurt; it's counter-intuitive and feels too much like work to learn it. I find the disappointment resulting from what I felt was a weak closing of the game - compared to the first part, which ended on a very dramatic note - bleeding through into my appreciation of the score. That said the drama of A Path Through the Skies is captured really well. I think I did really poorly at this particular section of the game - choices made with the best intentions likely causing a worse outcome than I might have otherwise had. It was, though, my favourite passage of play in the whole 9 hour episode.  The horns... oh, the horns. I am a sucker for long, lonely notes and here we get that aplenty.

This soundtrack is stately in pace - which befits companionship for a game played through decisions or turns where you have all the time in the world to make your choices. However I find that slow, marching pace which makes it so brilliantly apt for the in play experience, is distancing me from it at I listen and I have already disabused myself of the notion of buying the soundtrack to part 1 for that reason. It's not a fault in the composition, but in the consumption; I just find that devoid the context of the scenes these tunes were meant to overlay, many of them offer little to the listener. They drip atmosphere and theme, knowing what they are meant to accompany, but those qualities have reduced impact in a "sit down and listen" scenario, at least for me. I might suggest this to a friend of mine though, as he is running an RPG campaign with very, very similar themes to those found in The Banner Saga.

There are a few musical themes recurring across these tracks, little snippets of tune that appear and reappear over different numbers. I like this - it makes the work feel tied together, it helps to build a context for the listener. This is also achieved through the tone, as you would expect, but its the little snatches of melody that emerge from behind the dramatic structures of drums and horns that offer me the most interest.

Some of these tunes are properly tense! Dragons in the Mud is a nerve-wracking piece that proffers doom. I find myself unable to place most of these tracks relative to the imagery from my playthrough, but this one must have been a particularly dramatic moment. A few of the tracks make use of chanting voices which lends them an eeriness to add to the dramatic crucible. This feature is often used as an introduction rather than as a feature running through a track. Essentially it provides a sort of scene framing, but I find that it focuses my ear then drops out and leaves me without the right sense of things... from a purely aural point of view, I would like the voices to persist a little longer, though I can certainly understand why that may not have worked with the original context of the tunes. Just as I type that, Children of the Fallen plays, which does have a vocal throughout. I have no idea what is being sung, but the tones of the voices involved are wonderfully rich.

Broken Shells harks back to other tracks, similar tunes arising in the top end, but overshadowed by environmental type effects in the piece... like nature is ruling man. This soundtrack is not an easy listen by any stretch. There is barely a light moment in any of the pieces, as befits the tragic edge to the tale it supports. The moments where the drums drop away and we are left with tunes that are identifiable melodies though... there is some nice work there. Those melodies are hardly joyful, but they are familiar, touchstones and breathers amidst the inevitable progression of the threat. In truth though, as a standalone work The Banner Saga 2 soundtrack suffers for this lack of lighter moments. It has less intense moments and these are welcome, but the overwhelmingly morose themes make enjoying the craft that went into this work difficult for me.

Two tracks to go. Threads Unweave is long by videogame soundtrack standards at over 6 minutes. It doesn't appear to use this length to give us a more considered and complete piece though as I find it to be made up of distinct shorter segments. I was, perhaps naïvely, expecting this to be a more "theme" like piece, but I don't get that feeling at all and find that it disappoints as a result. The last track delivers on this score though and I think shines a little light on what I wanted this soundtrack to be... music inspired by, and speaking to, the tone of the game, building on the atmosphere and setting. Soundtracking is not that though; had the soundtrack been what I realise now - too late - I was wanting then it almost certainly wouldn't have worked in its primary role.

Interlude: Life is Strange

Whilst not quite a first in talking about things outside of music, this post goes further than when I spoke about playlisting for the RPG I'm running. Incidentally the playlist doesn't make it to sessions anymore as I can't be arsed heaving the laptop over, or pissing about with an MP3 player that probably won't be compatible with the outputs at my friend's house (no Apple for me).

I suppose technically, since I own the game, the Life is Strange soundtrack is part of my library. Since a licensed soundtrack is not available to purchase it is not included in the digital library that I am actually progressing through, only within the game itself, which I am playing on PS4. There is a YouTube playlist which I am listening to whilst writing this piece. Whilst I will chat a little bit about the use of music in the game (generally excellent), this post is an interlude more because I feel a need to write about the game proper and I don't want to revive a long-dead blog to do it. I have mentioned Life is Strange a few times in passing during recent posts, as a competing demand on my time, as something that I have been enjoying and thinking about in the wider sphere of my life. The goal with this project has never been to focus, laser-like, on the music and nothing else. It is, rather, a stream of consciousness merely directed by the music and where the primary purpose is to get me listening to things I have overlooked and trim out material I would not want to listen to again. Stepping away from that to talk about a videogame is a bit of a departure and, suffice to say, not one I was expecting to make. However for better or worse this is now my platform.

For those that don't know, Life is Strange is an episodic game (to date 4 of 5 are out, and I have just completed the 4th) from Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It is an interactive story-slash-adventure game set in the Pacific northwest and focusing around events in one hick town and, particularly, the "prestigious" school institution there. Quotes, because it doesn't really feel like the school is, or should be, so rated. The game is mostly notable for a few things:

1. It does Telltale better than Telltale
2. It has a female protagonist and a majority of the major cast are female
3. Time travel and other magical weirdness, including nods to several genre properties to have trodden similar ground before.

There is a lot more to it than that, but it is the intersection of points 1 and 3 that really makes the game tick, whilst point 2 gives it a distinct flavour to many adventure games. The time travel, or rewind, mechanic means that you can explore different paths for your choices before deciding on which one to go with. These choices are also generally more weighty, with no clear cut right/wrong outcomes, and have more impact on what is to come than in Telltale games, too - or at least, that has been my experience. Judging from the breakdown of choices at the end of each episode I am probably not alone in that view. It also means that there isn't a timer on the decision points the way that Telltale tend to do. There are some time-based events, but the magical time travel girl uses her power to rewind to solve those puzzles and it's not a question of "didn't choose in time, so we'll pick for you".

Before I verge into spoiler territory and talk about the content of the game I want to tenuously justify this post with the music discussion. Put simply, Life is Strange uses music fantastically well. Rather than going down the route of hiring composers to generate them bespoke music, the majority of the LiS soundtrack is compiled from tunes put out by artists or groups you may well have heard of (e.g. Alt-J, Mogwai, José González; the Alt-J track being one of the few that I kept from the disappointing An Awesome Wave), integrated in much the same way that you find licensed music used in TV. Not to do videogame composition down (I bloody love the Bastion soundtrack after all), but this feels like a step forward in two ways. First, to secure the licenses in the first instance by having a product that labels and artists are happy to associate themselves with. In other words the continued movement of gaming towards mainstream entertainment and everything that means - including a more diverse audience. Secondly the seamless integration with the content alongside original scoring, like in film.

All of this builds a really strong sense of place and atmosphere. Some of the nicest moments in the game are found where Max, our protagonist, can simply sit somewhere in her environment and muse upon the events. You can even have her sit down with her guitar and noodle out one or two of the tracks herself. The pieces chosen are often quite soothing despite the game itself not necessarily following suit. In text this presents like dissonance, in context the musical support provides the relief and mental break that you can imagine our protagonist needing to deal with the week that she is having. Also, whilst often soothing, they are not placid tracks, a distinction which is important to the generation of that atmosphere. The Mogwai track Kids Will Be Skeletons is my go-to example there; the title implies something darker than the light and airy guitar melodies actually deliver but there is a murkiness in the bass and percussive structure that provides a tension in the track which stops it just rocking you to relaxation. Or at least in my case. The song is used for the lead up to a particularly sad/shocking moment, a cliffhanger to end an episode. It just works so well and implies that the studio really put some effort in to identify exactly what they wanted to do and how to do it. This is something that always impresses me; as someone who listens to a fair bit of music (I have actually had a chance this week, albeit shuffles whilst working from home more than dedicated listens for this blog!) from across several spheres my mind boggles as to how perfect tracks are identified to accompany visuals. Its something that usually impresses me about BBC documentaries as much as anything else.

Worryingly, this may turn out to be the single longest post here and it's technically off topic. Still, on to the game itself. Here be spoilers, perhaps.

Given this post, it will surprise no-one to find out I love Life is Strange. As a whole it is the best thing I have played in a very long time, despite ostensibly covering US teen/college drama, which I loathe. I think I enjoy Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands more because the humour is fantastically on the button, but I don't think it is a better game. Not by a long chalk.

Episode 1 was a so-so introduction. You get to learn about Max's power and deal with teen wangst and slice of life drama as it starts, but it escalates pretty quickly into saving the life of Max's estranged BFF from her early teens, Chloe. Chloe is a real love her or hate her character, I suspect. I fall squarely on the second side of that, finding her willful stupidity hard to relate to and harder to like. Max I found almost as hard to like to begin with but she grew on me with later episodes, becoming a bit more assertive and less self-pitying. The episode as a whole is pretty much all setup - people, places and the events you will investigate as the plot thickens. I was enticed enough, but not wholly sold.

Episode 2 changed that completely. Whilst navigating around Chloe's epicentre of drama and crazy, which is driven by one of the main plot threads, the disappearance of her friend Rachel that you are investigating, you are also dealing with the deep depression of one of Max's college friends, brought on by bullying and, it turns out later, much, much worse. Kate Marsh is by far the most sympathetic character in the game, and set up to be so really well. The "Jesus waits" type is often the butt of the jokes in college-set media and Kate is positioned in that role. However the game starts with Max as an outsider of sorts too, meaning Kate is by far her most relate-able classmate which sucks the player in. The inevitable progression of the bullying is really powerful over the two episodes and it had me standing up for Kate at every turn, seeing where it was going.  There's a moment in the episode where Chloe rants at Max if you choose to take a call from Kate instead of being all about her (Chloe and Max having fully reconciled not speaking for 5 years during ep. 1) which is, above every other stupid or crappy thing Chloe does, the moment that defines her character for me. I took the call in my playthrough, of course, and didn't even consider rewinding to see the other path.

That right there? An example of how good the game is. It gives you all the tools to fully explore every decision you could make, but then is written in such a way as to produce strong emotional "fuck yous!" to the idea of doing so in places.

The episode progresses and has, thus far, the stand-out ending. No matter what Max does to be good to Kate over two episodes, the rest of the cast outweigh that with their dickishness and Kate, having been the victim of being drugged, has some out of character actions filmed and exposed. She's suicidal and there is an incredibly powerful scene where you - sans rewind having blown your limit to stop time and reach Kate - have to talk her down from the rooftop before she jumps. It can, apparently, go both ways. I got the better result here and would have been pretty emotionally devastated if I had not managed to, more praise for the writing.

See the thing is: the main cast is used really well. This may be an adventure game, but all the most important choices relate directly to other characters or conversations, not objects or investigations. The focus is on navigating the social maze more than the puzzle of what happened to Rachel or what is going on. At least early, anyway. Yes - there are more puzzle-like sections, and these are my least favourite pieces of the game. In episode 4 you are pulling together clues and it's just dull gameplay... its a fair bit of a letdown after the conversational choices earlier. The majority female cast is well realised and most of the time talking to people is fun and interesting. You can, it seems, change a lot of lives in a few conversations. Which, obviously, is OTT for real life, but adds weight to the interactions in the game and focusing on this is a really neat change in tack from most games.

Kate is not the only character who can live or die in different story paths; apparently there's a thread where one of the less savory characters (and note, none of the main cast are nearly as two-dimensional in the good/bad person sense as they first appear) can die as a result of Chloe's actions (which are guided by you as Max with her rewind or "don't do that it sucks!" power). These characters aren't central to the primary plot strand then, but thus far I have seen enough to suggest that, unlike my experience with Telltale games, the paths are truly divergent with several different end states. The main plot might conclude similarly every time (or not, but I would guess it does) but the surrounding details feel substantially more weighty.

Anyhow, after the excellence of episode 2, the third installment was just about able to keep pace. Its crowning moment was Max learning a new use for her power, rewinding to when she and Chloe were kids and saving Chloe's dad from the traffic accident that killed him, predictably establishing a completely different timeline. Whilst there is some weirdness about original timeline Max suddenly then "waking up" in the present day of an alternate timeline with only memories from the original sequence of events, this was a completely unexpected shift in the game. It is made poignant in the extreme by finding out, at the end of the episode, how the change played out for Chloe. The game gets really good at emotional gut punches, and holds that over twice for the start of episode 4. I almost had to put down the controller and walk away when the (now paraplegic and getting worse) Chloe asks Max to overdose her with morphine, despite the fallback of a rewind power. I almost had to do it again when, knowing she has to go back to her own timeline you have to sit through Max experiencing the scene where Chloe sees her dad for the last time once more.

Hell, the writing in this game is so good, that reading a synopsis of certain scenes is enough to produce a strong emotional response. 

Episode 4 ratchets up the tension and the creepiness of what is going on. Real human ugliness, not just magical oddity. This move was not unexpected - after all, someone driven to suicide by having been drugged and abducted, and a young woman missing both point to some very nasty goings on. My problem with the game comes right as the final cliffhanger where that darkness is now applied directly to your protagonist in a way that strongly suggests a very limited way to avoid it. The final cutscene has an antagonist spike Max with a needle and her fall down woozy. This is followed by shots of the scene where you found out just how dark things were earlier in the episode. I hope its just appearances because, well... torture horror is not my thing, y'know. Whilst I am fairly certain Max gets out of it somehow, I'd rather not have to go through it first.

Anyhow - I have written far too much in this piece already, and I still need to find time today to listen to more John Lee Hooker to not stall the library run through too far, so I'll draw it to a close there and simply suggest people do themselves a favour and look up episode 1 on whichever platform they prefer, then plough on with the others if taken by it.

Bastion Original Soundtrack - Darren Korb

Track list:

1. Get Used to It
2. A Proper Story
3. In Case of Trouble
4. Bynn the Breaker
5. The Sole Regret
6. Twisted Streets
7. Terminal March
8. Percy's Escape
9. Faith of Jevel
10. Mine, Windbag, Mine
11. Slinger's Song
12. Build That Wall (Zia's Theme)
13. Spike in a Rail
14. What's Left Undone
15. Brusher Patrol
16. The Mancer's Dilemma
17. Mother, I'm Here (Zulf's Theme)
18. Pale Watchers
19. The Bottom Feeders
20. From Wharf to Wilds
21. Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)
22. The Pantheon (Ain't Gonna Catch You)

Running time: 60 minutes
Released: 2011

This slots in here as a recent purchase, and the first example of a growing trend: soundtracks for videogames. I have picked up a fair few in recent months/years as it becomes more common for them to be offered as part of the purchase on digital platforms. Bastion I bought just days ago in a Steam sale; I got the soundtrack edition because a) I had heard it was highly rated and b) I already had and loved the soundtrack to Transistor, a game from the same studio carrying music by the same artist, so I have good hopes for this. I have been playing Bastion recently too and the music has made more of an impression than the gameplay, but in a context where I was not really concentrating on it. I wonder what attention might reveal?

This is one of two inserts, new purchases that come in the mid-Folds period (the other being the new Mountain Goats record, Beat the Champ which will follow once I am back home). 22 songs in an hour speaks to short tracks, but some are very short whilst others are more usual track lengths.

It starts with the intro - spoken word over a structure. The start of A Proper Story is jarring as a transition but the track sets the tone of the game's music. Fairly jaunty, evocative of a western-style brush/scrub badlands atmosphere. Strong guitars, steel stringed perhaps, such is their jangle. In Case of Trouble is, I think, the main theme really - the one that was with me a lot of the way through the game (I finished the first run through this morning). Either that or my tune recognition is garbage. The percussion is fairly tense which befits the soundtrack to what is - exploration and story aside - a fairly typical fight-em-all style procession. That edge is present in the consistent banging and pulses in the following track too - this has a darker, rougher edge to it, more immediate danger less promised trouble. Electric wails come in as a top end, then synth strings carry the ominous sound into a lighter and more melodic phase before the oppression overtakes all again.

Even though I was only just playing the game, I can't recall the context of each track, but I can hear the narrator's voice over each piece as it plays. The opening of The Sole Regret absolutely sells regret as the theme (although that could be biased by seeing the title). It then morphs into a more sitar-inspired piece, less oppressive as much of it simply creates a central space which lines then rise to fill in an effective and pleasing manner. There is a hint of a voice at one point (no words mind) and I am looking forward to the voice-as-instrument tracks to come (there must be at least one) as that was one of my favourite things about Transistor's music. Before then it has all gone more cyberpunk in tone, which feels slightly off - images of 90s videogame music arise in my mind as one of the treble themes is reminiscent of Street Fighter 2 music to me... thankfully its not a dominant sound.

I was not overly sold on the game, I have to say. Played it through, finished it with one of the two endings, but in no rush to go back to it. Too repetitive and really too designed for play with a console controller for me to want to replay on a laptop keyboard. Some cheap tricks too like hiding the ground and/or your character sprite; not a fan of that. The tension has ratcheted up again for Terminal March - rolling percussion is ever-present and the melody does nothing to take the edge off. Where it breaks in to the cacophony it actually serves to increase the sense of discomfort and unease, as if something bad is waiting just ahead, or following just behind. Apt. It isn't that much of a march though, if I am being picky - there's nothing regimented enough for that. Then, suddenly we're being chased. There is no other way to describe Percy's Escape, as it gives me a distinct impression of someone on my heels, footing not sound, but plunging on the only option. Funny - I don't recognise this track at all; not sure how the music is organised or coded in game so it is possible (however unlikely) that certain tracks did not appear in my play through.

Darker, but less immediately threatening now. Kinda like the idea of heading home after a nice holiday as I will be doing tomorrow. Mine, Windbag, Mine has the clanging of pick on rock in the background of a lushly layered piece. Strings and more strings over the clangy percussion, then an opening an electro-break followed by a sparser sound, double bass threatening us still. I am trying to think what I would liken this too, where I have heard a similar approach to percussion before but I am coming up blanks.

The badlands overtures return now; maybe Slinger's Song was the theme I heard most. Certainly it is more immediately identifiable with the section I started with this morning - jungle-type terrain, swampy in nature - watch out for that 'gator, don't swim in the bayou. I like the bluesy overtones here, they groove nicely, better without the visuals actually where it could simply apply to the stereotypical deep south.

Ah, there is the voice; humming and singing. The song not so much, but the hum I like, along with the maudlin tone. This has to be the same singer as on Transistor or my ears are deteriorating day by day. The song reminds me of Anaïs Mitchell - its about building walls and really rather bland, but nicely intoned even if the lyrics are terribad. The tone has left the Eastern themes of sitar (I guess meant to be associated with one of the cultures in the gameworld) and strangled notes aside and is squarely back in that southern/western badlands vibe now and I think this is the stronger suit, mixing tension with some interestingly modified tones, driving pacey beats with lines that could be played for relaxation in another context.

Occasionally lighter pieces drift in, like the Mancer's Dilemma, harp-like strains lead this, and whilst there is still a solid background rumble that contains the promise of threat, here it doesn't dominate like it has on most of the tracks thus far. It is a nice change-up, being more effective for that than the song that follows. Different singer this time, less enchanting but almost as effectively crafted to build the emotion. Unfortunately this effect is spoilt by the abrupt shift into the next track right as the final word is uttered - a second or two of quiet for the transition would have been more effective for me. What we drop into is more generic soundtrack music, tension conveyed but without the interesting themes that prior tracks had. Don't misunderstand, I think that Pale Watchers is a pretty decent track but... it lacks the character of something like Brusher Patrol or Slinger's Song where the decisions to use those steely guitar sounds really paid off and helped to craft memorable, enjoyable tunes that stand up well away from the game.

Into the run-in now, and Bottom Feeders has some character back, but alas its very definitely videogame character, not transcendent of the medium. There is a tinny, electronic edge to proceedings for much of the piece which means it is hard to see it as anything but an accompaniment to some gameplay that I am not currently engaged in. It must be from towards the end of the game - the bits I did today - because it is also spacey and reminiscent of some of the FTL soundtrack by Ben Prunty in places. In all honesty this track is probably my least favourite. We get a breather for the first 30 seconds of From Wharf to Wilds before synthetic horns blast in and the percussive edge is restored. It is a short piece though and it is not long before an end theme kicks in. One of the most annoying things about the game was unskippable credits at the end, so I have listened to this piece in full just a couple of hours ago. I did not notice that it was a duet then though, so I clearly wasn't paying much attention! When both voices are active the song is much better - singing different lines at the same time produces a nice haunting effect and brings out the best in Korb's composition.

Final track is a gravelly voiced song; reminds me of Mark Lanegan - just to tag another artist on this post for no apparent reason - but I guess it's actually the guy who voiced the narrator through the game. I rather like the effect and the bluesy guitar that accompanies it. Pretty good closing track this, ending on a really positive note.

Ordinarily I would cull some tracks at this point, for some I felt were rather weak when stripped of their original context. However soundtracks are soundtracks and sometimes best left intact. Re-use is a consideration here, and with that in mind I will be keeping all of it. My gut says Transistor was a better soundtrack, but this surely is not bad at all.