" Nice slowdown of the theme with a more pensive style. Tell your friends! Hope you enjoy!"Ī very deliberate, Zen pacing makes this one for deep contemplation on a rainy day I'm a big fan of the "solo instrument with minimal accompaniment" approach, and while the piano definitely leads, here, the intoxicating background swirls around & provides both motion and space. Please give it a listen! Starting in January, I will be working on my first original solo album which will infuse piano, chill hop, electronic, and ambient.Īs always, thanks for listening. I impressed myself with my efficiency and somehow recorded, mixed, and mastered this entire song in 3 sessions over 2 days (pretty long 6-8 hour sessions though), a minor miracle for someone who usually agonizes and obsesses over every small detail of the song. and mostly floaty soundscapes I created messing around with synths and using the wonderful creation engine that is Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2. The song features 44 tracks, including 4 piano live recordings, violins, ambient textures, pizzicato-style strings overlaid on the left hand of the piano to give it that poppy, airy sound like it has in the game. I purposely didn't follow the exact melody of the song for the second half with the improvised piano, and made it a bit more discordant and harsh. I then just improvised for about 2 hours with the song on a never-ending loop until I came up with something I liked as an accompaniment melody and laid that track down, which I think added a very ethereal, dreamy quality. For the second playthrough, I stripped down some of the ambiance and created a 2nd piano part using a mellow grand piano preset on my Kawai ES7 digital piano and added delay and reverb effects. I wanted to have 2 different variations of the theme to keep it evolving, so for the first part, I focused on orchestral arrangements with countermelodies and soft ambiance. To do this, I first recorded the piano part with light reverb.Īfter that, I duplicated the piano part so it plays twice in succession, as the song itself is fairly short, and I wanted enough time to experiment with it.
The version used in the game is much more up-tempo and has a march-like cadence to it.įor my re-interpretation, I wanted to keep with the piano theme, and slow it down into a plodding, gently developing, brooding, contemplative, and introspective piece. "Blue Fields" can be heard anytime you are traversing about the world map, and is instantly recognizable, catchy, and just gets you in the mood to jaunt about, explore and adventure around the captivating world of FF8.
I present to you "Wanderlust." This is a wistful piano-centric orchestral arrangement I composed of the song "Blue Fields" from Final Fantasy 8, originally written by my favorite composer Nobuo Uematsu. I figured the best way to get it out of my head would be to create my own unique interpretation.
This whole soundtrack is one of Uematsu's best IMO, but I always liked the sense of mystery and comfort in the repetition of the notes this particular song evoked. "Blue Fields." Who could forget this memorable melody sparking you to action as you first exit Balamb Garden with Squall & co.? This is one of those songs that is permanently etched into my brain due to the countless hours spent grinding on the world map. ZiSotto (Zack Sottolano) sends us a gorgeous, serene, somewhat somber piano-led arrangement of "Blue Fields" from FF8, off of his Piano Collections album: