This was sung by a singer named Eri Kawai for the game Soma Bringer. I don’t think she’s in a minor key here, but it still gives me some bluish mystery vapors.
It turns out Kawai died the same year this game was released, at 43, from liver cancer. She died on August 5, 2008, and the game released on February 22 that year. Her archived website said that she “has been sickening more than some time”—translated from Japanese. So I’m wondering if she was going through complications around the time she recorded this, or even if she knew of the cancer long before. Not that one is a Debbie Downer necessarily all the time because of it, but these things can leak into other areas, like musical artistry, without our conscious effort.
She also did a great cover of “Amazing Grace“.
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Hmm. Medieval chord structure with lots of suspended dissonance transitions, some 2nds and close harmonies that make it sound dreary to our ears. It’s hard to get that stuff right, but this one succeeds.
Really, I didn’t know where to place it, musically. It just seemed genreless to me.
I found the spot in the game where this is played. It’s right in the beginning. The entire scene doesn’t give much context, unless you regard more mystery as a context–you and I would, but most people, maybe not. I assume later in the game the whole star falling is explained. I think it’s effective.
https://youtu.be/-IAQelHyIco?t=2m3s
The style is traditional Latin church a capella hymn, just a step away from Gregorian chant.
See, I would’ve never guessed that. I don’t know much about either, but enjoy them the rare times I encounter them.