"B'nai Ben Zion" from The Shivah on PC, MacOS, Linux, iOS, & Android (2006)
Composer: Peter Gresser
Album: The Shivah (Original Soundtrack)
Label: Sumthing Else Music Works
Publisher: Wadjet Eye Games
Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
Well, today is Passover (Pesah), and I thought I would try to find something that would suit well for the occasion and I found an old point-and-click murder mystery adventure game developed by Wadjet Eye Games titled The Shivah (meaning the seven days in Jewish culture spent mourning after someone dies). Knowing a little bit of context about the game, I think, might help to put this song into perspective.
The game opens with Rabbi Stone and the Cantor Josh in the Synagogue, and there being only one person in attendance who is off-screen. Rabbi Stone calls the service to a premature close and walks away to his office, experiencing and vocalizing a crisis of faith. As the game progresses and Rabbi Stone returns to the Synagogue, "B'nai Ben Zion" is the music that plays any time he returns to the interior (B'nai Ben Zion being the name of the temple). To me, the solemn tone of the song works well with Rabbi Stone's internal conflict, the mystery of the murder, the downward slide of B'nai Ben Zion, it is all encapsulated in this song. The only downside to this song being the theme here is that you can pass through the temple fairly quickly and not have time to hear the full song unless you do so consciously.
What really draws me into this song is that to me it sounds a lot like the theme from the Coen Brothers' 1996 film Fargo, "Fargo, North Dakota." Something about the melancholy of the digital violin and the staccato strings that start off the song are just highly reminiscent of that score by Carter Burwell.
That is really it. And if you get the chance, there is an updated soundtrack over on Spotify and Amazon Music that has an amazing arrangement of "B'nai Ben Zion" titled "Rabbi Stone's Temple."
~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
No comments:
Post a Comment