Miracle of Sound: Calamity (Bastion)

[The Last Melon]

I'm so much of a fan of Darren Korb's original soundtrack that I have to fight really hard to like this. You guys are trying to do different things here, and I spent the entire song reminding myself of that. Korb's soundtrack is sad and atmospheric, like the story, and this is more frenetic and down-to-earth, like the gameplay. The problem being that it was the story and atmosphere that got me by the balls in Bastion and not the gameplay (although, in my defence, I have beaten everything but the Stranger's Dream on 10 idols). Focusing on the gameplay seems like missing out on what I considered the most important part.

That said, though, it's probably for the best. Trying to beat Korb at his own game would probably have ended in tears all around.

 

[tobuji]

jesus christ.
THIS SONG IS SO F-STAR-STAR-K-ING AMAZING
the backing track sounds like it belongs in the bastion OST, and the vocals fit the game so perfectly. you do a great impression of Rukus, and an amazing job of capturing the overall feel of the game. this is by far my favorite MoS soong yet, even more than the sovengarde song, or even joker's song. please, keep making this amazing music.

 

[Ham Blitz]

Great song, and it came out on my birthday.
Was it a gift to me? I'd like to think so.
Was it actually one? No, but truth is over rated.

 

[Owlslayer]

Well, i finished the game. And after listening to the song again...

"so bring it back or start anew " - that part... it took me quite a while to choose.

"Turnin' back is bound to be
Just another calamity"

The lyrics make a whole lot more sense now, and the song was even awesome-er. Nicely written, Gavin.

And i have to say, I really liked the game. Had many memorable parts. One part particularly was so damn memorable. It happened when i decided to

Spoiler

take Zulf with me instead of that super-weapon.

And oh god, i held my breath for so long after that... Magnificent.

 

[AbstractStream]

Oh my gosh. I love it and if I could, I would hug it. This one is definitely another easy favorite.

 

[Nicholas Chandler-Yates]

I put this as my wakeup song on my alarm clock this morning, Totally forgetting what the first verse was. Turns out, ITS THE PERFECT WAKEUP SONG. Well off to the ski field... its Powder day. Thanks for the awesome song Gavin, my favorite song of yours for a long time, perhaps ever. Love the rhythm and the Lyrics SOOOOOO much. and once again.... now I am going to go play Bastion, this is like the third or fourth time that I've been sold on a game by your music, my experiences with Mass Effect, Assassins creed, Deus EX, Gears of War, and even Skyrim/Oblivion. so thank you Gavin, thank you so much.

 

[maximalist566]

It seems that last lines ran away from your previous song. They match both stories =)

Great song, sounds to me like a mix of Bastion soundtrack, Sweet L.A. and Little Sister.

Now let's test it in Audiosurf...

 

[Arcanist]

Holy bajeezus yes, this song was great. It really captured the feel of the game's soundtrack- was the main beat thing quoting/referencing Bynn the Breaker?

Yes, absolutely, that was my favourite piece on the game's soundtrack

"A is for Acobi, goddess of oath and abandon. Make a promise, and the chastened maiden will hold you to it."

Damn, I still get chills remembering that sequence...

 

[Razzigyrl]

Absolute squeebliness! I bought the game because I fell in love with the music, then fell in love with the game itself, and now you've upped the associated level of awesome by at least one more notch. I love this song. I especially enjoyed the layered repetition of certain bits at the end. While I can agree with some that your vocal style doesn't perfectly match the game, I sort of see that as half of the point, that this song is YOURS. That's not a bad thing at all.

 

[Superbun]

The music to this one sounds great!

I've only played about an hour or so of the game so I may be wrong on this, but the lyrics don't really fit the tone of the game as I understood it, but these things are always open to different interpretations. I also found the last third or so of the song a little repetitive for my tastes.

Judged as an original song, it's still great though, and as people before me have said it does have a catchy beat or something to it (I'm not that great a describing music!)

 

[Jang]

I would have thought it impossible to make a good cover song of Bastion... Thank you for proving me wrong, Gav

 

[anaphysik]

. There were one or two lyrical quibbles(cloudburst moving in reverse? Wha?), but other than that, I think this is one of your best Gavin.

haha yeah that line is a bit vague... it's to do with the Skyways and the idea of time moving backwards, without spoiling too much

Overall, I feel like the lyrics do an excellent job of highlighting major points of Bastion's story without actually spoiling them.

Especially

Spoiler

"You can't fix a broken heart/In a couple of days/So bring it back or start anew
Turnin' back is bound to be/Just another calamity"

What a great little summary of the main ending choice. And the narrative interpretation of the NG+.

(Those specific lyrics work doubly well if you think about it from Zulf's perspective instead of the Kid's. The accompanying vid at 1:14-1:19 and 2:16-2:22 surely wasn't an accident, given other lyric-vid matches?)

And maybe it's just me, but I also feel like "Withstand/Knuckles of your own hand" is a clear reference to

Spoiler

Zulf being beaten to within an inch of his life by the other Ura.

I don't usually watch these, but I'm really glad I did this time. Love the Bastion soundtrack loved this. Excellent work, Gavin!

(Though as a devoted Brusher's Pike man, some of the fighting in the video was painful to watch )

 

[JarinArenos]

Okay, I wasn't sold before, but this song made me a dedicated MoS fan.

Edit: I have had this song on repeat for three days, HELP

 

[Mikodite]

"Bring it back or start anew"

Not sure what it means. Its a comment on the endgame, but is it talking about

Spoiler

either returning accepting that its broken versus destroying it and starting from scratch?

 

[Porecomesis]

Wait a tick...

Turnin' back is bound to be
Just another calamity

... Are you hinting at something?

EDIT: Looking back over the comments that I couldn't be bothered to before, I now feel rather stupid.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Kept listening to this song,but forgot to post so might as well do it now.

Great song Gavin.I find it truly amazing that you can switch genre of music with every song you put out and style.

I salute you sir!

PS: I really hope the Escapist staff will record and give us a small footage of your concert at the EXPO to all of us which can't attend due to being tens of thousands of miles away.

 

[IMAGinES]

Played this with my lady wife sitting next to me. She reckoned you'd really done a solid chorus on this one.

I've played the Bastion demo months ago but didn't fee like it was my kind of game. Calamity keeps me thinking about plonking down some cash...

 

[spookydom]

Return to form and no mistaking! You have always been good with a chorus Gavin but have to admit that I haven't been able to stop humming this for the last hour.......You anoying bas£$%$! Excelent work.

 

[Wyldfae]

Really.....awesome....song. Bought it immediately.

 

[scw55]

In my opinion you summed up the game perfectly.
You even incorporated the feeling of the game's sound track.
Many <3

Given how strong the sound track for the game was by itself, it was a very hard thing for you to create a song that was unique but nestled comfortably amongst the music.
You succeeded.