It's been a little less than a year since the release of Infinity Crystal.  Ready for the follow-up?

I spent a lot of last year writing either 1) songs or 2) intensely retro things (some of which you can grab here as the 'midi madness' packs).  I kept telling myself I was going to get back into soundtracking large-scale and more realism/high "quality" in the sounds... it took a while to get here, because the retro sounds were just so fun and inspiring to me, but now I've finally got going on a project that's really grabbed me, and I think it's nearly done.

The concept for this is, like... if Infinity Crystal was the classic late 90s JRPG with bright colours and epic overworlds and airships, this is the sleeper hit of a more action-oriented but still story-driven spin-off, with a more modern and slightly more esoteric soundtrack to match.

I will also freely admit it's very specifically influenced, conceptually, by Crisis Core in regards to FFVII, because I really got into that lately.  But one of the main elements I admired about Takeharu Ishimoto's Crisis Core soundtrack was its originality and specificity especially with instrument choices -- all this hard rock and then string quartets!  So I didn't want to actually lift or borrow any sounds, that would slightly defeat the purpose.

I had a couple central ideas for instrumentation: there should be taiko drumming, and an electric cello.  Also heavier rock elements in general, that it does have in common with CC. 

So.  We got those things.  Here's some examples so far!

combat mode activated ...

...and party mode activated! Here I'm somewhat referencing actual taiko drumming - at least more than "TRAILER TAIKO DRUMS!!" the sound library people expect you to make - but also mashing it up with super inauthentic elements like piano and bass.

The taiko drums ended up bringing along a few of their friends and relations of traditional instruments, here they are playing an original "traditional" song that becomes a central theme of the game:

(with the cello too!)

Now is the cherry in blossom, Love
Love of my heart with the apple to follow
Over the village at nightfall now
Merrily veers and darts the swallow

Infinity Crisis will be even longer and more substantial set of tracks than Crystal, similarly if not more interconnected and motivic.  The two projects aren't musically connected to each other, though I may thrown in an Easter egg or some from the 'original'.  It will be a paid music pack, but I'm thinking of making a "core" (Infinity Crisis...Core... get it) version of a smaller selection of tracks available for free too!  This has been a wonderfully inspiring project and I feel like I've got a whole... emotional arc going on here, but without any actual plot or characters, so I would most of all just love for some of you guys to come in and provide those.....

I feel like this is a big spoiler, emotionally, so, only listen if you are ready, but here's the big piece, Processional -> Stay Thy Tears (orchestration after Prokofiev), another recurring melody.

O stay thy tears
For they are blessed
Whose days are passed
Whose time is done
Here midnight care disturbs our rest
Here sorrow dims the noonday sun.

stay tuned and of course follow my profile for updates when they arrive!

And thank you for all the love and support for Infinity Crystal!  I'm still eager to hear the plots of this 'game' too :D