Wednesday, August 9, 2017

MIDI Week Singles: "I Have Begun My Ascent" - Dear Esther (PC)


"I Have Begun My Ascent" from Dear Esther on the PC, Mac, Linux, Playstation 4, & Xbox One (2012)
Composer: Jessica Curry
Label: thechineseroom
Developer: thechineseroom


What I love about not only the song "I Have Begun My Ascent" but also the game Dear Esther, is that Jessica Curry's music perfectly compliments the visuals in the game, the semi-sparse poetical narration, and the often bleakness of the scenery of the island.  If you were to replace any of those aspects, the rest would loose a lot of meaning, which is not to say that listening to the music on its own looses all emotional impact, it doesn't.  It does loose a little something if you sit alone in a darkened room and listen, but the song itself is still powerful in its own right.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of many songs that feature a piano that plays only two chords, and not just a song that only plays two chords with melodies flitting throughout, but literally the same tri-tone for the entirety of the song.  Yes, at around 1:02 (what I am going to assume is the cello performed by Chris Worsey) brings the first bits of melody, which is later picked up by the violins roughly a minute later, but the piano line is never truly gone, it is always present.

"I Have Begun My Ascent" is not an overly complicated song when you break it down into individual parts, but when everything fits together so seamlessly, what is created is a powerful and gorgeous soundscape that is pretty easy to be lost in.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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