Radio Update #5
Evolution of a Theme (And Variation)
Hello! Leif here, with my first Radio entry where I’ll talk about some of the work that I’ve been doing in the conceptualizing and writing of Dead State’s original score.
Almost everything about the music in Dead State has a certain minimalist style about it. This leaks over from my own personal style of writing, but it also pairs nicely with the mood and theme of the game. When I set out to start writing music for the game, the initial challenge was to tie everything together with a unified style. Because the game’s dynamic involves two very contrasting forces—humanity and, well, not humanity—my first inclination was to develop some core themes that help to inform everything else.
By creating an overarching meta-theme (or leitmotif, for those of you keeping score), I’m able to shape how I write so that no matter how crazy things get, I still have something concrete that ties everything together.
In Dead State, the theme of humanity lives within the perfect fifth. It was the very first thing I wrote; just a piano playing two alternating notes. Simple, but effective.
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F76363071&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false
Since then, every new theme I’ve written has been informed by this particular movement. The Shelter theme’s melodic phrases begin and end with that fifth. The B theme, also used in Let’s Talk, ends its phrases with that fifth. The “bridge” within the Shelter also uses fifths to modulate, which will be built upon significantly in other alternate themes. When you’re wandering, uncertain if you’ll ever see another person again, the first sign of hope is hearing that sound.
I’ve ended the music sample with a sneak peak at one of those signs of hope—a few distant notes, a wind chime playing out a familiar melody. Perhaps there’s a haven on the horizon. Perhaps not.
So that’s the very basics of what makes the survivors’ musical cues tick, whether it’s their home, their conversations, or their refuge. But that’s only when times are safe, which isn’t often. In my next Radio interlude, I’ll discuss what kinds of sounds go into the discordant, anxious and disastrous moments.