{"id":30020,"date":"2020-10-10T15:19:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T19:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/records\/ikenfell-original-game-soundtrack\/"},"modified":"2020-10-10T15:21:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T19:21:30","slug":"ikenfell-original-game-soundtrack","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/ikenfell-original-game-soundtrack\/","title":{"rendered":"Ikenfell (Original Game Soundtrack)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The California duo of pianist Aivi Tran and chip musician Steven \u201cSurasshu\u201d Velema made their debut with the memorable 2013 mini-album The B<\/em><\/strong><\/a>l<\/a><\/em><\/strong>ack Box<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, their self-described \u201cdigital fusion\u201d an exceptionally precious strain of neoclassical electro-pop. The comic-book cover art, and cover versions of themes from the Zelda<\/em> and Katamari<\/em> games, confirmed that these sounds were emanating from the geeks\u2019 corner of the high school cafeteria (the pair, now married, met at a videogame convention). That qualified them, quickly enough, to compose the score for the award-winning, queer-positive cartoon series for teens, Steven Universe<\/em>. The experience served them well, as they\u2019ve since steered their efforts into the rather obvious realm of game soundtracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humble Games\u2019 Ikenfell<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is a turn-based RPG about a group of student sorcerers at a magic school \u2013 Harry Potter<\/em>, in other words, for folks who\u2019ve had their fill of J.K. Rowling. Despite Ikenfell<\/em>\u2019s notably retro, 8-bit graphics, the accompanying music is (mostly) devoid of overt chiptune elements, and the electronic aspect takes no precedence over traditional instruments. Piano, strings, guitar, and woodwinds dance decorously with the synths and sequencers in play. It\u2019s an enormous batch of content, 75 tracks in all. It can\u2019t be denied that a lot of it is necessarily generic, and often trite and sentimental. There are however enough power-ups strewn in the listener\u2019s path to keep them in the game. Much of it is minute-long mood cues \u2013 many of them, mind you, so expect thrills, chills, tears, cheers, and chuckles. There are also a half-dozen more substantial pieces handled entirely by their friend Sabrielle Augustin<\/strong><\/a>, a very capable young media-music composer. The most consequential moments are the individual character themes, which sound like echoes of the elaborately naive, ornamental macro-pop of Japan\u2019s Shibuya-kei wave circa Y2K. A rotating cast of guest vocalists appear on those tracks, as if to underline Ikenfell<\/em>\u2019s accent on social bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n