Another interesting character portrayal is "Aqua", which is a studio-recorded piano trio with a soft and dark aura. "Ventus" thankfully is enchantingly poignant, utilizing a live piano, violin, and oboe to great effect. "Terra" is unfortunately short to be as iconic as the main games' character themes and it's followed by the overly moody "Xehanort". The character themes are rather hit and miss. "Neverland's Scherzo" is rather light and airy, yet has moments of dark brilliance as well. "Up Down Adventure" is marchlike and relatively heavy, with light moments on the xylophone scattered throughout, while "Makaukau" melds the space theme with techno, creating an endearing, dark mix. The inclusion of violin to the otherwise techno "The Tumbling" results in a captivating fusion that few composers can handle as well as Shimomura. It's dark and cinematic, yet fails to develop to any reasonable degree over its playtime. "Extreme Encounters" is, unfortunately, frustratingly repetitive. "Castle Escapade" is rather short, which is a shame, considering how well the piece evolves over its length. The latter is the type of piece that can be played on loop endlessly without tiring the listener, thanks in part to its intelligently balancing heavy and light sections so there's never too much going on at once for too long. "Risky Romp" is vivacious and lively, though it can't compare to "The Rustling Forest" melodically. The battle themes are easily one of the strongest aspects of the album. "Daydream of Neverland" harkens back to the Super Mario RPG soundtrack with its xylophone usage, yet the piece develops into something much more orchestral and reminiscent of the composer's recent works, blending her two styles effortlessly.
The playfulness returns in full force for "Hau'oli, Hau'oli," a piece that effectively uses synth and guitar to paint a fascinating picture of space. "The Silent Forest," meanwhile, forgoes the playful style of the preceding, and is instead a relatively mournful, slow tune that quite hooks the listener as it evolves and develops. "The Secret Whispers" is the first area theme, and, in typical Shimomura fashion, she weaves a playful and whimsical, yet eerily dark tune to fit the Disney-inspired world. Though the track is enjoyable, it also seems somewhat forced emotionally, as if the piece's only purpose is to highlight the violin.Īfter this introductory material, we arrive at the meat of the album: its area and battle themes. "Tears of the Light" is the first of many tracks on the album to showcase a particular live instrument, in this case a violin, amidst the high quality synth. Moving on, the first thing a listener might realize when listening to "The Promised Beginning" is that the quality of synth used in this release dwarfs any previous Kingdom Hearts album that is, if they are not distracted too much by the track's delicate and endearing ability to balance playfulness and tension without feeling forced on either end. The track loops, but the transition is so seamless and the strings so breathtaking that the average listener won't realize or care. The collection opens with the album's first version of "Dearly Beloved," arranged for orchestra by Kaoru Wada, whose wonderful orchestration allows a breath of new life in this piece. The soundtrack's first two discs are dedicated to the PSP's Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Fortunately, unlike the highly repetitive Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete Box, all of the tracks on this album are entirely original, with the main exception of three new arrangements of "Dearly Beloved." Given her recent rather exceptional track record, how does Yoko Shimomura's latest album compare? Body
Finally, almost two years after the first DS title was released, the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack came out, a collection of original tracks from four portable Kingdom Hearts titles: 358/2 Days and Re:Coded for the DS, Birth by Sleep and its Final Mix version for the PSP.
One by one, new entries in the Kingdom Hearts franchise were released for the PSP and DS, and each featured a substantial number of original tracks to complement the old.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days Original Soundtrack :: Review by Marc