Tag Archives: Yasunori Mitsuda

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Laura Shigihara Talks “Play for Japan”

The adorable Laura Shigihara talks on her YouTube channel about the excellent Play for Japan Charity CD that’s being spearheaded by Akira Yamaoka.

The full tracklist:

Akira Yamaoka (Shadows of the Damned) | “Ex Animo”
Arthur Inasi (Harmonix) | “We Are One”
Bear McCreary (SOCOM 4) | “Maverick Regeneration”
Chance Thomas (Lord of the Rings Online) | “Rise Up”
Hip Tanaka.β (Mother) | “HVC-1384″
Inon Zur feat. The Lyris Quartet (Dragon Age) | “Remember”
Jason Graves (Dead Space) | “Necromancer”
Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros.) | “Super Mario Medley On Two Pianos”
Laura Karpman (Everquest II) w/Lisbeth Scott | “Pine Wind Sound”
Laura Shigihara (Plants vs. Zombies) | “Jump”
Mitsuto Suzuki (The 3rd Birthday) | “Play for You”
Nobuko Toda (Metal Gear Solid 4) | “Reminiscence”
Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) | “Every New Morning”
Penka Kouneva (Prince of Persia) | “White Cloud”
Sean Murray (Call of Duty) | “The Temple Stone”
Tommy Tallarico (Advent Rising) | “Greater Lights”
Woody Jackson (Red Dead Redemption) | “Moshi Moshi”
Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger) | “Dimension Break”

“Play for Japan: The Album” will be released on iTunes in June, and I’ll make sure to tell you the exact date as soon as we know. 100% of the profits will be donated to the relief efforts in Japan

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Yasunori Mitsuda & Millennial Fair – “Xenogears Creid” Review

Xenogears Creid is an arranged album from the PS1 game, with a heavy influence on the Celtic and Eastern instrumentation. Yasunori Mitsuda collaborated with Millennial Fair to produce what could well be classed as one of the best-arranged albums ever.

The album opens with the epic “Melkaba” which starts off with hypnotic harps and piano before breaking out into a majestic guitar, fiddle and choral song that lets nothing slip from its grasp. From each chord and build up to the next finale-like set piece, you’ll be hooked and mesmerised. Add to that some fantastic Eastern European (think Bulgarian) vocal ab-libs and you’re in even. 7 and a half minutes later, you’ll be hit with “Two Wings” which is a new vocal version of Joanne Hogg’s outtake song. Although the songs not changed, new lyrics in Japanese make it feel fresh. The song is just as captivating and uplifting.

“Balto” starts off very ethereal before showing its pure beauty and swiftness. This being an instrumental, the instruments take centre stage and really show off. Then half way through, the loving tempo, and the songs origin changes from Eastern to French, as the accordion kicks in and the song up tempos and the chirpy version of the song begins. It’s a great way to finish the song with the end result sounding like a River Dance song!

“Creid” is a beautiful, soft Celtic song, which is very spiritual and warm and wouldn’t be out-of-place in a church. Half way through once again, the song changes and instruments begin to make it into an epic adventure with echoing drum rhythms and sweet singing. “Dajil” is an absolute stonker of a song. It rocks out the electronic Sitar from start to end in a mass crescendo of music that will send your pulse racing. The diversity on the album hits home between the complete opposites of the last two tunes. “Stairs of Light” is pleasant and happy ditty that goes through various cultured stages in the song and still has time to have a lovely grandstand finish. The way in which each song is thought out really shines through on this album.

“June Mermaid”, perhaps one of the most loved songs from Xenogears, is given a very sensitive and heartfelt rendition with harps, fiddles, whistles and wind chimes. The end result is a tear jerking effort that would be perfect for any sad scene for any game. “Spring Lullaby” is possibly the least immediate song on the album, but that still puts it miles above the best of a lot of other albums. The song is a  grower as it does have its own hooks, it just takes a few listens to bed them in.

“Lahan” is a fast paced, light fun song that gives you a buzzing smile that then turns to anthem singing with a fantastic build up to great finish that has you cheering along with the fair at the end of it. “Mebius” is a classic song to finish on. As loving as it is beautiful, this is a Japanese vocal of “Small two of Piece’s”. The song captures all the drama and feeling and ends the album perfectly.

“Xenogears: Creid” is the kind of CD you can’t help but love. It’s a class above the rest with real emotion in the performances and extremely enchanting themes. Put simply…one of the best. Buy it now.

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Yasunori Mitsuda – Chrono Trigger Orchestra Extra Soundtrack

As a preorder bonus in 2008, Chrono Trigger had a 2 track promotional bonus CD of two orchestrated songs. The first is “Chrono Trigger” which finally see’s the fantastic main theme brought into life by an orchestra for all its grandure. The strings and brass really push the full power of the melody forward and the running drums keep the pace up. When it breaks down for its quieter sections, the xylophone adds an extra innocence to the track.

While arranger Katsumi Kameoka stays very much to the original source on that track, “Chrono Trigger Medley” is more a tour de force, cycling through all the different tracks with effortless transitional slips between various moods, themes and key moments in the game, complete with big grande finale finish that only an orchestra can produce.

If you can find it, track it down. There’s only two tracks and it only clocks in six minutes but most people will leave it laying around as a freebie I’d imagine. Nice to see Chrono Trigger get the orchestra treatement, as I never really warmed completely to the pseudo-jazz arrangements of Brink of Time and I’ve sat and waited since for the full works. This will have to do!

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Most Viewed: January 2010

Well first month of the new decade is behind us and it certainly was a busy one! Just about averaged a post a day (phew – new years resolution not broken immediately!) and site traffic rose after a quiet December back to normal figures again. However, top of the bill was a certain Lisa Gerrard with the news of The Black Opal’s release and the review of “Balibo” really setting the readers alight. Here’s the top 10 artist’s and top 5 games of the month.

01) Lisa Gerrard

02) Brendan Perry

03) Jesper Kyd

04) Musashi Hamauzu

05) Imogen Heap

06) Utada

07) Mike Reagan / Cris Velasco

08) Akira Yamaoka

09) Yasunori Mitsuda

10) Sarah Slean

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Games

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01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Winter Sports 2010 (PS3)

03) Vancouver 2010 (PS3)

04) Hyperballoid (Ps3)

05) .detuned (PS3)

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Most Viewed – October 2009

October saw HPM have three distinct leaders in the race for top spot and despite only being a listen-to-the-samples post, Lisa Gerrard topped the bill for October while we all wait in anticipation for “The Black Opal”. Christoper Tin and Winifred Phillips followed closely behind with their interviews and reviews while Anonymous 4 was quickly catching all three at the end of the month. The top 10 are listed below:

01) Lisa Gerrard (^)

02) Christopher Tin (v)

03) Winifred Phillips (RE)

04) Anonymous 4 (NE)

05) Brendan Perry (-)

06) Imogen Heap (v)

07) Tori Amos (RE)

08) Hiroki Kikuta (v)

09) OverClocked Remix (v)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

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Game Reviews

01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Shatter (PS3)

03) .detuned (PS3)

04) Trash Panic (PS3)

05) Numblast (PS3)

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Most Viewed – June 09

June missed being our most busiest month by just 21 hits so March 09 still holds the crown of busiest month – however for the first time ever one artist completely outrun everyone else by such a margin, their top post (our most viewed post this month) had more hits than the second, third and fourth busiest posts combined! Well done the Imogen Heap – everyone’s gone mad over the tracklist for Ellipse and we’ll be buying the album on release day so expect a sharp review on the day (provided its in shops – we couldn’t get a copy for Speak For Yourself in a store and had to buy online and wait). Patrick Wolf, Dead Can Dance & Vienna Teng’s album reviews all followed behind. Here’s the top 10 artists followed by the only two game reviews on site (we will be doing a top 5 game hits too). Congrats to Lisa Germano for making a new entry and Tori Amos, number 1 last month, dropped straight back out the charts again! June should be a busy month with lots of reviews not just here, but over on new site I Love Disaster Movies, which is another personal indulgence to another hobby of mine! Enjoy the summer!

01) Imogen Heap (1 Month)

02) Patrick Wolf (RE)

03) Dead Can Dance (RE)

04) Vienna Teng (-)

05) Akira Yamaoka (^)

06) Utada (v)

07) Brendan Perry (-)

08) Sarah Slean (v)

09) Lisa Germano (NE)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

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Most Viewed March 2009

summoningspiritscoverWell March was a big month! HPM hit a new high for hits and we should pass the 20,000 mark at some point in April – not too shabby for a site that’s dedicated to music that’s half about alternative, largely unknown artists, and half about video game music. This month was all about two artists who went blow to blow all the way until the final days however OverClocked Remix became the most viewed artist of the month and should become the most viewed artist of our site completely if things continue! The release of Summoning of Spirits and the interview with the project managers combined beat of the review of Utada’s anticipated second English album. Tori Amos’ latest album announcement slipped her into third while Vienna Teng slides down to fourth. Here’s the complete top 10:

01) OverClocked Remix (NE)

02) Utada (NE)

03) Tori Amos (^)

04) Vienna Teng (v)

05) Akira Yamaoka (v)

06) PJ Harvey & John Parish (NE)

07) Sarah Slean (<>)

08) Brendan Perry (v)

09) Hiroki Kikuta (v)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

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Yasunori Mitsuda, Hiroshi Hata & Kalta Ohtsuki – Chrono Trigger: Brink of Time Arranged Soundtrack Review

“Chrono Trigger: Brink of Time” may well win the award for most edible front cover with its fried breakfast on the front. However the task at hand of arranging what many would agree, is a fantastic soundtrack – would be much harder than scoffing down a yummy breakfast.

Hiroshi Hata & Kalta Ohtsuki give each track on the arranged album a jazz flavour which immediately unsettles me as I’m not a fan of the genre. However I have sat and let this CD flow over me time and time again before I wrote this review so as not to be biased.

“Chrono Trigger” is an interesting jazzed up piece using brass instruments, funky keyboards and bashing basses to up the ante with a lovely string section in the middle. Overall the track met my expectations and went beyond them for a jazz arrangement.

“Secret of Forest” however slows things down for a cool laid back approach and while there’s no denying the guitar work on the piece is sublime it just doesn’t do wonders for me. “Zeal Palace” just confuses however with sparse arrangements and thick bass lines and just never really gets going for me at all.

“Warlock Battle” gives us synthesized electric guitars, computerised basslines but seemingly live drums for the opening bizarre section. Once the main song gets started things improve greatly and it reminds me a bit of a lost Gitarooman track which is fine to me! “Chrono Corridor” is another strange blend of synth and live instrumentation however I enjoyed this track greatly as its jazz fusion and dance elements combine well.

“Undersea Palace” gains extra help from Gizaemon de Furuta for a beautiful electric acoustic guitar solo which is simply beautiful before the keyboard driven background adds excellent tension to a fantastic track. “World Revolution” continues on the same wavelength of pace and desire with a riot of a track which comes across like a jazz/arcade freak out – like something from an arcade shoot-em-up.

“Brink of Time” gets out the double bass for an interesting track which is not entirely successful in its slinky aim but is far from offensive – another track that doesn’t grab me.

“Guardia Millenial Fair” however does grab me with its old style musings and slightly off tone and kilter tunings of the instruments. However towards the end steel drums join in and they just don’t go with the surrounding instruments and it becomes slightly messy. The CD closes with Latin jazz fusion “Outskirts of Time” which is a well accomplished piece that has direction, pace and skill involved.

Despite all this time I’ve owned the CD (several years now) I’m still so very open juried over it. It has skill, class and a feel that’s relatively original and yes, it certainly does arrange the originals! Yet I still have yet to really connect with it in a way that means I look forward to coming back to the CD as soon as possible – and that annoys me because it’s technically well accomplished. A CD very much down to personal taste – a love or hate arrangement.

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Yasunori Mitsuda & Joanne Hogg – “Kokoro” Review

“Kokoro” is the vocal track single from the Xenosaga soundtrack, and is sung by Joanne Hogg in English. Interestingly, the single doesn’t begin with the song, but with another vocal theme called “Pain”.

“Pain” has a quiet verse and a huge stomping chorus. The piano is present throughout and holds the main tune, while Joanne’s voice soars especially in the chorus’ and they really show off her tremendous vocal talent. The song has an epic feel to it, that’s very present in the instrumental verse played by a solitary whistle. It’s a complex but very satisfying listen.

“Kokoro”, the ending theme for Xenosaga is the second vocal track on the single. Opening in acoustic guitar arpeggios, instruments are layered constantly on top of each other to make listening out for them so enjoyable. Upon each listen, you’ll find a new part of the song that you hadn’t noticed last time. The way in which the different duel vocal arrangements (as in “Pain” too) are done sets Joanne Hogg’s vocals apart from the crowd. The whole song is a classic from start to finish, and I guarantee that you’ll be pressing the repeat button when it’s done.

Track 3 is a piano version of Kokoro. The version is slow and heartfelt, preferring to use sparse arrangement to make more emphasis on the emotions than make a powerful finger-numbing piece. It works very well indeed. Tracks 4 and 5 are instrumental versions of “Pain” and “Kokoro” which are faultless and have lyrics provided to sing along with too!

Unless you are after the Karaoke versions of the songs, the single is kind of redundant as there’s nothing new from the full soundtrack however these songs are particularly great so I wanted to give special attention to them.

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Higher Plain Music’s Top 10 Music Releases of 2008

Well in the previous post we told you what we’d bought, now its time for our top 10 countdown. There were some excellent releases this year although we’ve bought less compared to 2007, however there wasn’t one release we did not like so everyone’s a winner (except the bank account). So without further ado:

10) Ayumi Hamasaki – GUILTY

Ayu went all rock for this years album and we head banged with her. With guitar riffs popping out your years and cute verses inbetween, who couldn’t love GUILTY. Standouts are Talkin 2 Myself, GUILTY, Marionette, Together When & Mirror.

09) Son Lux – At War with Walls and Mazes

Our first of two new artists we found this year in the top 10, we were hooked by the unique nature and cold music that made us emotional inside. We look foward to more and more from Son Lux. Highlights are Break, Weapon, Wither, Tell & War.

08) Yasunori Mitsuda – Soma Bringer OST

We must confess that the reason this is 8th and maybe not higher is due to the fact we’ve not spent enough time with it but Mitsuda always produces stunning etheral and mystical albums and we love them and the soundtrack is that good we couldn’t decide our top 5. A review will be coming early next year.

07) Sarah Slean – The Baroness

Possibly the highest charting disappointment for 2008, we felt the production and song’s were a little bland but bland for Sarah is still fantastic and in time we grew to love the album. Definitely a grower. Stand outs are Euphoria, Notes From the Underground, So Many Miles, Sound of Water/Change Your Mind & Get Home.

06) Wataru Hokoyama – Afrika OST

We only reviewed it last week but it’s that good it rockets in at No.6. The lush soundscapes and beautiful melodies earn it a place as one of best orchestral VGM soundtracks in recent memory. Stand outs are Savanna, Afrika, Safari, Big Five & Base Camp

05) Akira Yamaoka – Silent Hill Zero OST

While the games may get a bit of bashing for sticking with the same formula, Akira Yamaoka delivers another serving of empty, sorrowful, eerie ambience that makes you shiver, squirm and tap your feet all at the same time. Not as immediate as some of the other soundtracks he’s done, the songs gradually fester. Stand outs are Hole in the Sky, Theme of Sabre Dance, Drowning, This Wicked End & Wrong is Right

04) Julia Marcell – It Might Like You

A complete new artist for us to discover, we loved her debut album in all its demo-esque glory and look forward to enjoying her work in the years to come. Stand outs are Carousel, Outer Space, Fear of Flying, Dancer & The Story.

03) Emiliana Torrini – Me & Armini

Completely genre hopping – being barking mad in places while utterly devastingly beautiful in others, no one can master everything all at once quite like Emiliana. Good to have you back! Stand Outs are Jungle Drum, Dead Duck, Beggar’s Prayer, Gun & Birds.

02) Alanis Morissette – Flavors of Entanglement

We had been just passers by for Alanis until this album came out. Infectious, technically excellent, emotionally charged and completely compelling, this has quickly become our English album for 2008. Stand outs: Straitjacket, Tapes, Not as We, Limbo No More and Orchid

01) Utada Hikaru – Heart Station

Utada has yet to make a duff record and this, her fifth Japanese album (sixth overall) continues to show her as a natural talent. Stand out tracks are Stay Gold, Heart Station, Beautiful World, Take 5 & the bitter sweet finale Niji-iro Bus.

Congrats to Utada Hikaru!

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Top 10 Most Viewed Artists For October

A new stats fest at the start of each month begins as we give you the top 10 artists viewed at HPM. Of course it will change with their releases but its always very interesting:

01) Emiliana Torrini

02) Akira Yamaoka

03) Yasunori Mitsuda

04) Joe Hisaishi

05) Utada Hikaru

06) Pierre Esteve & Stephane Picq

07) Hiroki Kikuta

08) Sarah Slean

09) Lisa Gerrard

10) Hitoshi Sakimoto

So an interesting spread of artists this month!

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Yasunori Mitsuda – “Sailing to the World” Review

“Sailing to the World” is the title for the official release of Yasunori Mitsuda’s compositions for the game called “The Seventh Seal”. 10 tracks were chosen and re-recorded for the CD which has been quite overlooked compared to his other works, which is a great shame as its a very cohesive, well balanced and catchy effort.

“The Door” opens the soundtrack with a very mystical atmosphere lead by a distant choir sounding synth which then leads to a beautifully haunting demonic organ section – very Mitsuda but still very classy. “Sailing To The World” is what I’d assume to be the opening theme of the game, a Celtic affair with a very catchy bridge! The vocals are lightly out of tune at times but with such a strong melody and a big finish, you soon forget about the imperfections and concentrate on the song at hand.
“Melody of Aqua” is very typical of a town theme actually. Its tuned percussive elements and main melody work perfectly together and the sound quality because it’s been recorded again for the release is like that of an arranged album almost. One that grows on you more each listen. “Rhythm of Red” is an astounding piece of guitar work, flamenco percussion and some soaring spirit lifting string arrangments. If you need a reason to buy the soundtrack, its this song I think because it is just so very well accomplished in all areas. Superb!
“Path to Enlightenment” is what I refer to as the sneeky theme on the soundtrack. It has the very stereotypical waiting and hiding feel to it with some Asian tangents and twists. Nothing special but once again well concieved. “Confrontation” is one of the only battle theme on the album and it stands out just because of that fact. It has all the nobality, stature, power and anxiety that a high tension track needs and the sound quality is superb once again. Normally I’m not one to go mad over battle tracks but I really do adore this one.
“Melody-Go-Round” takes the earlier vocal theme and turns it into a beautiful wind and string arrangement and is my second favourite track on the album just for its sublime calming attributes and I feel the melody is more at home here than the vocal piece – don’t ask me why but it just feels right.

My favourite tune on this album by a long shot is “Point of No return” purely for one thing – pace signitures. Coming across like a gothic space oddysey at the beginning the song erupts into electronic tension without going majorly fast with some tension building string sections and moaning male vocalist adding to it. It carefully sways around in its prelude to the chorus and then suddenly stops and builds up into a drum, guitar, string and wind instrument elated chorus that could sweep you off your feet. Although the pace and timing does not change at all during the song it just feels like it has suddenly taken you to a new level of drama and tension. I place this down as one of Mitsuda’s best creations.
“Hope” is a lovely piano led piece that is an excerise in beauty and its highly recommended. “Reincarnation” brings back our female vocalist from the second track for a similar style track of the title track only slower, but to the theme of “Hope” which works well. It does remind me very much of the vocal themes of “Xenogears” actually which can be no bad thing.

“Sailing to the World” has never really hogged the limelight as much as it should have been as has been largely overlooked. I hope this review can enlighten some people into plumbing for this soundtrack as it deserves a home in many more VGM Collectors than it does already.

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Yoshitaka Hirota – Shadow Hearts Arranged: NDE

Shadow Hearts Arranged Tracks: Near Death Experience had me slightly worried when it was announced. I had enjoyed two superb soundtracks and I couldn’t really see how Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Kenji Ito & Tomoko Ito would be able to re-arrange these priceless tracks into something shockingly different. However in true Shadow Hearts fashion the arrangements you’re used to aren’t going to be what appears on this album

“Near Death Experience – Muddy Water Edit” is as close to the easiest rock arrangement you’ll get. The acoustic orientated guitars power in at high speed and the percussion follows with some intricate details between the two playing out through an energetic and exhilarating piece that will get your heart pumping. Kyoko Koshikawa’s vocal treats from Shadow Hearts 1 also return to give the song a helping hand. Yet still much is familiar as you can hear much of the original song samples playing throughout and it’s this that sets Shadow Hearts Arrangements very much apart from the rest. “Astraroth – 8-minute Note Mix”, which doesn’t last 8 minutes may I add, builds on that notion with using the vocal samples and the haunting bell arrangements from the original and building them up to a fabulous climax to what is a very well thought out arrangement. I especially like the inclusion of acoustic guitars once again which finishes off the fuller sound of the piece.

“The Wheel of Fortune – Fortuna” then heads the album off onto the more experimental side. This is a sweeping vocal demonstration set to an ever gathering collection of harps, organs and cymbals. You can recognise the catchy “Icaro” tune that’s given so many forms in these soundtracks at one of its simple yet stunning forms. This followed by the despondent “Never Ending Sadness – Pain Edit” which is just ambience with echoed piano and high pitched string action bleeding its heart over your speakers for you. I haven’t really clicked with this arrangement yet but it doesn’t mean I cannot appreciate that it is still a good piece.

However I have completely connected with “Twilight Street – Ambient Remix”. After hours of the beautiful original version in the game, I must admit I have largely left the original alone but converting it into a heart wrenching piano piece was genius and it works so well. When the other instruments join in at the half way point it may fill your ears with more sound but it’s still very haunting yet somewhat like a new fresh dawn all at the same time. Like a rebirth…

“Ala of Sacrum – Spirit of the Air” is where we do get quite random with galloping horses and near dance drum beats to ambience nothingness and running water that might send you running for the nearest toilet! However this and this discord of vocal shrieks and electric guitars does come together for an interesting if not entirely hooked experience. One for the more left of centre music lovers! “Deep In Coma – minimal work” takes that premise up a step with a Shadow Hearts version of what I’d imagine to be a skeleton nightclub dance anthem! Excellent usage of vocals in this song which purposely strips the song down to its bare bones and sucks all the major instruments out to leave you feeling very cold despite the pace of it all.

“Asian Parafait – Jasmine” rectifies that with a perfect oriental helping of fun and pleasure in an unashamedly bouncy and catchy tune that will stay in your head for hours. I adore the instrumentation on this piece of art and how its been produced to meld together for warmth.

“Grey Memories – Floating Edit” is in a similar vein to “Deep In Coma” and is actually completely different to the original which is quite a daring trial to attempt. Very low-fi and once again sucked out of life, it reminds me of a plague of flies for its bass lines!

“The 3 Karma – Cogito, Ergo, Sun” was one of the songs a lot of people wanted to hear arranged and here we have a beautiful arrangement that starts off quite majestic before the drums pick up with the bells and violins bringing up the tension for a while. Then it all fades away for the grand organ to take over and off we go into what’s the only real dramatic section of the whole arrangement with some excellent workings and interlacing of instrument and sound clips. I think some might be annoyed at its lack of freak-out but I really enjoyed the restraint it carries for most of the song. “Sphere -qu- Sacred Shrine Edit” ends the album with saxophones and tweeting birds amongst ambience and percussive loops – just as ambiguous as the original itself and leaves you surrounded in mystery again.

I really enjoyed these tracks and I would recommend this arranged tracks album to anyone who is slightly bored of the same old arrangements and are looking for a complete escape. However Shadow Hearts as a whole offers that so I wouldn’t stop just at this CD either.

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Yasunori Mitsuda – KiRiTe Review

Yasunori Mitsuda is no stranger to celtic influenced music with eastern undertones so with KiRite, an album of music to accompany a 52 page story by Masato Kato (which is provided but is in Japanese so sadly it’s lost on me), Mitsuda once again delves into what he does and knows best.

“Is Kirite Burning Up?” opens the album with an acoustic guitar gently playing to the vocal delights of Eri Kawai. After the beautiful introduction we are treated to a militarian paced celtic charge lead by an electric guitar and echoing vocals. It all reminds me of how I pictured the Chrono Trigger Arranged CD should have been had it not tried to straddle ten genres all at once. An excellent opener and all the instruments are live. “The Market in Volfinor” passes celtic by at the start for a more middle-eastern feel to open with – very Turkish. A whistling intro gives way to beautiful percussive bells and more acoustic guitar chords. Once the drums and violin break
out however it reminds me very tradionally of a typical village theme to a game. However instead of using loops, because the instrumentation is live – the songs can move and flow freely like water and not just do two repetitions and end. This song never sits still and is an amazing piece of composing.

“Promise with Winds ~ Petals’ Whereabouts” sounds like a downtempo rock ballad. Eri Kawai’s vocals shine on this track as she sings with little reverb to distort her unlike the first track. It’s a difficult song to pull off because of the various chord changes in the chorus but the end result is a very pleasing one.

“The Forest of Lapis Lazuli” uses one of my favourite instruments, a hammered dulcimer to lay the background tune out with a guitar while the violins and tin whistles carfully soar the main tune out for everyone. This song could have came straight from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for its use of more ancient instruments. Similarly it also reminds of the style Mitsuda adopted for “Haka No Niwa”. “The Azure” is another vocal song but this time is a celtic influenced uptempo folk piece. The chorus is particularly catchy. “Scorning Blade” however for the first time takes a darker route in music. Using various ambient percussion and very low tone and low key monk style hummings for the first half before suddenly transforming into a solomn piano piece which aches the heart. A song of two halves and quite unusual at that.

“Upon the Melodies of the Moon” is an accepela version of the main theme heard in several songs which is beautifully presented. “Fated Encounter ~ The Fall of Darkness” now reminds me of the Shadow Hearts Arranged Tracks album (although Kirite came out first) because of the way how the guitar pounds out riff after riff with vocal moanings and piercing bagpipes all competiting for your attention. Previously it reminds me completely of a band called “Secret Garden” and it still does to this day. Another excellent piece again.

“Nocturne” is a beautiful piano and violin piece which gives warmth before “As Autumn Passes Away” ups the pace with an uptempo number with a slightly mysterious but compelling twist to it. “The Snow Howling” is a strange piece – the main violin is very much in the foreground of the speakers but everything seems to be very much distanced and almost in slow motion. Once the drums join the violin it makes more sense as you are giving the effect of a tough stamina reducing journey.”Prayer Tree” is a piano and acoustic guitar led piece with various other instruments making up the percussive line which is nice before “The Name of Our Hope” gives us our final vocal song. Choosing another upbeat song (I assume the
story has a happy ending!) Eri Kowai once again shows her strong vocal talent to what is a full band version of the piano piece from “Scorning Blade” it sounds completely different but you can still hear the link which is great. “Circle of Infinity” is a short piano reprise of the previous track to end a stunning album.

This whole soundtrack is classic Mitsuda. There is not one poor track on this collection and it has quickly become one of my favourite soundtracks. I liken it in style and music composition to “Legaia: Duel Saga” in the way how the songs are written and the instruments used. If you enjoyed that soundtrack – think of an arrangement of that with real instruments and your some way to describing “Kirite”. A superb classic – and a must buy for all music fans.