This was the song I was listening to when I wrote the previous post.
Something about its energy made me want to see if I could write about it. I think I was successful at first but it’s clear I hit a wall as the song went on. I was getting through that toward the end which wasn’t soon enough; I think it’s pretty clear where I started to drag and pick back up and so a good portion of this reads like a struggle, and not in the way that represents the song well.

Hiroshi Yamaguchi (山口裕史) and Masami Ueda’s (上田 雅美)”Waka’s Promenade ~ Playing with Waka” (“”) is from Ōkami Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack for Clover Studios’ Ōkami, a lovingly-crafted game. The soundtrack was composed by a few different people and the aim was (as far as I am aware) to create something that fit the setting quite well. If so then it was successful; the soundtrack fits the game’s aesthetic and atmosphere quite well.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Percussion strikes and rolls in a steady, almost furious rhythm. Voices and strings call out and dance along the beat and suddenly it all halts in a bloom.

The beat shifts and remains furious; it strikes out as woodwind moves along it at a steady pace. Soon a few louder strikes and the realm shifts to one of a different kind of intensity. Strings now dance upon the beat, then it shifts to something akin to woodwind which seems to move with a greater liveliness and passion.

Another shift, a bit of a pause of sorts even though everything continues. Eventually brass becomes apparent and it marks and deepens the sounds. It does not last too long and the sounds all return to woodwind’s first motion.

Gliding and moving along the beat into that different kind of intensity and the strings and woodwind switch when required. There is uncertainty here. There is passion and intensity and it lasts as the beats become spaced and return to when the brass was there. The brass reaches from a distance and it deepens the sound. It continues on, striking and pushing that energy forward and outward.

The woodwind moves once more. The woodwind glides and crests upon the beat as all thrust forward, unwavering in their movement. The strings return and the strings dance, and the woodwind dances and the motion is almost being traded. The focus shifts but the energy remains the same. It travels through the sounds and the brass has focus once more now, but it becomes apparent that the brass was already in parts outside of its main focus.

The sounds continue their intense back and forth. They continue in contrasts and they remain impassioned as they fade out and the song ends.