Bonfireside Chat 283: Elden Ring Soundtrack (Part 1)
Added 2023-10-15 14:00:06 +0000 UTCThis is mostly the songs you can't sing along to.
Comments
oh god im so behind, so much to download O.O
Cinnamon Toast Cunt
2023-10-16 16:04:52 +0000 UTCThe four chords sound like so many pop songs! 'String Bean Jean' by Belle & Sebastian. 'The Kids Aren't Alright' by Offspring. 'Tearz' by Wu Tang Clan. It's quite fun thinking of pop songs that sound a bit like the main ER theme
Charlie Frame
2023-10-16 15:52:33 +0000 UTCInteresting. I agree that on the whole FromSouls soundtracks tend to be more functional than something I'd listen to in their own right. I don't think Elden Ring is necessarily better or worse than any of the others here though. The use of music in these games has always been quite subtle, save for the sturm und drang of a lot of the boss fights. Comparing it to, say, the music from Baldur's Gate which is fantastic and colourful and very memorable, would we want something like this for Elden Ring which is ascetic by nature? For me it would be a touch too chromatic. Elden Ring is not a game of sweet hummability. Instead, the music seems to be about different "thicknesses" of sound. Literally a soundtrack as opposed to a score, a lot of the time. I really quite like the "ambient" tracks, and it's interesting that From decided to include non-diegetic ambiance to the levels on this occasion rather than just saving it for the boss fights. It's great that one disc features all the soundscapes and the other features all the big boss scores. I find the former much more interesting than all these bombastic orchestral performances, personally. These soundscapes are evocative to me, and while I couldn't exactly hum along to the music from the Eternal City, it still gives me the chill of walking an abnadoned civilisation under a fake starry sky. The Limgrave music is a big fave, of course. Just hearing that theme makes me think of coming up for air out onto the First Step, and seeing birds and wildlife for the first time. I also really love the Volcano Manor music. That deep, sinister cello motif that symbolises the scarlet-velvet dread of the place. You immediately feel strangely warm when walking into that building - something that's rare in a FromSoft game. And what about the Caelid theme? It's sickening. It works so well. That level just wouldn't be half as frightening without the distant dissonant squalls of what sounds like gigantic mosquitoes
Charlie Frame
2023-10-16 15:50:30 +0000 UTCGoing back to the DS trilogy, I’m always struck by the silence and lack of ambient music. In some ways, I feel like it helps distinguish the moments of ambient music at Firelink and Majula as a contrast to the inhospitable silence of the rest of the world (or generally bombastic boss music). On the other hand, I feel the ambient tracks of ER go a long for me in helping communicating the atmosphere and history of an area, at least when they’re done well. I’m not sure which I prefer, but I enjoy that there is a distinction between ER and the DS trilogy when it comes to ambient tracks.
Lucas West
2023-10-16 15:24:29 +0000 UTCCaves vs Tunnels 2024
Casey Francis Alger
2023-10-16 14:12:21 +0000 UTCEvery time I hear the "Elden Ring" title track I have to remind myself that I have just loaded up a FromSoft game, not a Call of Duty game. (I then wonder where the heck I'm getting that association from. The track has a four-chord pop song structure, overlaid with bombastic horns and drums. Maybe simplicity + bombast = CoD? That seems like a stretch.)
Micah Tillman
2023-10-16 01:05:24 +0000 UTC
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