Songs I think are magic: pt 1

I'm halfway through Persona 3, and I've let it consume my very soul. I'm glad I decided to not write about it as I go, but I'm going through withdrawals. So, when in doubt, let's talk about music!

Believe it or not, I have interests outside of video games. My third greatest love is music. Yes, it turns out I'm still in high school! Way back then, though, I was hoping for a career as a musician. Sadly, I lack musical talent... I could neither sing nor play guitar, meaning I was a hopeless romantic. Still am, really...

Let's flash forward fourteen years, and there are a number of bands, albums, and singles that have deeply resonated with me. I've mentioned a few of them in this blog from time to time, but I've barely scratched the surface. I want to talk more about them now! As I've said in the past, I believe that a good song is the closest mankind will ever come to performing actual magic. We'll never summon fire, but Yasunori Mitsuda can compose Wind Scene, which is what I'd rather have. But Mitsuda-san and Uematsu-san are not alone in their sagacity! They may be the most prolific, but they're far from alone. And, and this may come as a shock, there are even more conventional musicians that can make me feel things I'm not comfortable with!

From: country to folk, metal to EDM, and even some vintage radio hits, my interests are wide and varied. Everything I'm hoping to write about can take me to the highest of highs and lowest of lows. They fill my imagination with strange sights and sounds, regardless of if they're nostalgic, depressing, hopeful, or otherwise. I have a Spotify playlist that I'm trying to update often, but here's what's on it and why. I'll be trying to theme these, either by writer or something else, so let's start with...

My favorite composer, Yasunori Mitsuda. Sorry, I'm starting off boring, but I don't want to bury the lead.

Yasunori Mitsuda is mostly known for his video game soundtracks. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are some of the most highly touted OSTs in the industry. He's also done Xenogears/Blade, Mario Party, and composed for the Inazuma franchise: both games and anime. He's also done a million other things that I won't get into here for time. Mitsuda is still making music under his Procyon Studios label. But what will always stick out to me are the multitude of tracks that made me realize music is magic. Loading up Chrono Trigger just to play Peaceful Days while I did homework was a gateway I leaned against in 2001. I'd blow it open fifteen years later, but it all started then. Without Mitsuda, I wouldn't care for OverClocked Remix, and my computer would have 3000 fewer mp3s on it. But, specifically:

"Wind Scene" was the first track I added to my "Songs I Think are Magic" playlist, and I've talked at length about how powerful this song is. But, here I go again... Wind Scene is first heard when you get to ???. It's a whole new world from the one you were just in. The town of Truce looks slightly different, and you can't find your house. No one knows about the Millennial Fair, and everyone speaks of the ongoing war. It's the exact opposite of where you just were. The opening notes bring forth a feeling of nostalgia, which is perfect since we later learn we're 400 years in the past. Nostalgia might be the wrong word for such a massive time skip, but it works well enough. The rest of the piece is oddly upbeat and hopeful for such a chaotic time. There's a war going on, a city that goes bankrupt, and a ghost haunts Chorus. Towards the loop, it almost starts to sound triumphant, even. Speaking of the loop, despite consisting of two very separate pieces, it turns back around on itself perfectly. If anything, it almost changes the feeling. The part I learned on guitar can start a song one way but can be drastically different the second time through. I don't know how it works, but it's a thing of awe.

"Memories of Green" is another overworld theme. This time for the present day. It plays outside of Truce. The song starts off with what I think are arpeggios, which become a background melody for the rest of the track. MIDI woodwinds come in after a few loops that lift the piece into a peaceful air of calm. But there's something about them that makes me slightly uneasy. I think the woodwinds play in a minor key, making me feel a little forlorn about this peace. It makes sense as we still don't know about the future yet. Compare this to the title track, which is definitely upbeat and exciting, and you hear the differences. It's the same melody played at the same tempo, but it just feels off. Even the more orchestral part, later on, doesn't provide me any ease. Or those unending arpeggios are more powerful than I think.

"Far Off Promise" is the fifty second loop that is Marle's theme. It might be the saddest song in the game, but it's a mystery as to why. Marle is an energetic Princess who'll stop at nothing to save her world, even if its destruction won't affect her. But it obviously does effect her. It has a musical box quality about it, which makes me think about Marle's late mother. We know that her death greatly affects our Princess, so I wonder if it's a callback to her. Would Marle's red portal have us learn more about the tune?

"The Day the World Revived" is a song you're not supposed to hear. It only plays when your party gets wiped, and it's fitting. The echo/reverb on the notes really reminds you that you suck and should be sad. It's an example of "less is more," and the best game over track in the entire art form. I wish I could say more about it, but it's outside canon, and I never die!

"Corridors of Time" may be the most remixed song ever, and it's deservedly so. It's another overworld track from antiquity, 12000 BC. But you first hear it when Melchior talks of the Masamune. CoT is the de facto theme for the floating continent of Zeal, a utopia in the clouds where its residents can use magic! I wonder if that's why it sounds middle eastern? If Arabia and the Levant are the birthplaces of "Earth" magic, then it makes sense why it would inspire the birthplace of "CT" magic. Even thirty years after its release, Chrono Trigger still teaches! It has a repeating melody that might get tiring, but the tune that plays over it stays exciting and can stave off any potential misery for at least an hour, at least according to my YouTube watch history.
 
"Schala's Theme" is another character theme. It's rare that a secondary NPC gets a track to themselves, but Schala deserves it. She's the key point in this planet's timeline and is more deserving of such an accolade than our party. It starts with a strange xylophone playing the backing melody, but there's an even stranger drum beat to keep this piece, ironically, grounded. The MIDI woodwinds that play over it ring and sustain out some of the saddest notes in a soundtrack filled with melancholy. And it all makes sense. Schala does not have a happy upbringing. She loses her dad at a young age, and her mother goes mad. She does not have a happy ending as she's a pawn in her mother's plan, and she gets abducted by an eater of worlds and banished to an area beyond time. And she deserves none of it. She's a kind Princess who thinks only of her people, the Earthbound populace, and Janus, her younger brother. She even asks us to forgive her mother. If Chrono Break ever comes to pass, it better end with Schala getting a happy ending!

From Chrono Cross:
"Radical Dreamers ~Le Tresor Interdit~" is the ending theme of Chrono Cross. I think this is the name of it, at least. Sadly, both Chrono games never got a set tracklist name from translation until it was too late, so now everything is jumbled. But this is a simple track that tells a not so simple story. Someone plays a barely tuned guitar while a woman with a great voice sings over it. The guitarist is "unpolished" in that we can hear when his fingers slide down the strings. Personally, I love hearing the flaws of the instrument, and it brings out more soul and emotion. I'll take raw blues talent over highly perfected orchestration any day. The notes themselves aren't anything to fawn over, but there's something special in how they're played and how they meld with the lyrics. The song is in Japanese, so I had to hunt down a translation. As far as I can tell, the lyrics are about searching through time and space to find someone. For some reason, the singer doesn't even know who she's looking for. This search brings love and pain, but it's something that must be done. This works perfectly for the Chrono series for a number of characters. Magus seeks Schala, Schala seeks herself and (maybe) Serge, and the players seek answers to everything! Or maybe it's just more vagueuity about the search for a meaningful existence when so much can go wrong.


"Dreams of a Shore from Another World" is one of four overworld themes in Chrono Cross. There's a mellow piano that plays a relaxing but somewhat fast piece behind a sad violin. I have mixed feelings on that weird chanting in the background, but it's whatever... "Dream of Another Shore" plays while we drift around the El Nido sea in Another World, and it gives me that wanderlust I crave. The aforementioned woodwinds play a slightly sad melody, giving this overworld tune a sting. We're not traveling for adventure in CC but to return home. We know that we'll suffer during our travels, but it'll be something we'll need to do. Before the song loops again, I get that peaceful feeling to keep my mind going in the right direction. I often forget about the bass playing in the background that occasionally chimes in to keep everything in order in this chaotic mutli dimensional universe.


"Fragment of Dreams" is a song I've always found to be oddly happy. You first hear it in Goldove, but I don't remember exactly why. Despite not being able to recall the exact plot point it appears with, it's made a strong impression on me. It's not the happiest of songs, of course, but it elicits emotions that bring about the good kind of nostalgia, even if those times will never come back. It's a perfect piece for Chrono Cross, as much of the game is about loss and how each character in both worlds overcomes that feeling. Of course, there's definitely something about loss in there, somewhere. And yes, I said the same thing about Reminicience a while ago, but multiple songs can have the same purpose.

"The Girl who Stole the Stars" is another theme about Schala, or, more apropos, Kid. We get some of the saddest notes played in the soundtrack, albeit different ones from "Schala's Theme" from CT. It's primarily on piano, but those woodwinds are with us the whole time as a backing track. At least, I think they're the backing track. There are times through the piece where the piano seems to give way, which brings to mind the duality of Kid and Schala. Two people with vastly different personalities but still have similar goals in mind. And a few other things, of course. There's a pre chorus here where a female vocalist sings "La La LaLa" for reasons I'm unsure of, but they don't distract anything and humanize these two people the song is about.

I probably could add a few more tracks of Mitsuda's, especially from Xenogears, but I'm forgetting melodies or plot points for a lot of possible songs. I'm unsure I should have kept "Fragment of Dreams" here, seeing as I've forgotten where it comes in at. And I even confused it for another song...  But I'm over 2000 words, so I feel like it's now a good time to move on anyway. Next time I'll be talking about a common theme from college, and it's someone who isn't from a video game. Although, I did hear about them because of a video game...