I guess it sounds good, I dunno...
So I've never claimed myself to be any great auteur when it comes to the world of everything artsy. I'm not a world designer, I've never drawn a beautiful portrait, the limit of my talents start and end with the ability to write, and there might be some contention about whether or not they 'start' anywhere at all. So when it comes to talking about music there's very little I can provide regarding the inner metrics of musical theory, the innate layering of musical tracks or the higher ethics of instrument hierarchy- but the more I think about that's never been a problem for anyone else, now has it? I mean heck, just recently the Metro published a Reader's Feature from a man who had clearly never read a sheet of music in his life mourning modern video game music as lacking the 'heart' of older music, such to the extent that he even compared the FF7 remake with the original. Those are the same tracks- the arrangements are identical, they just rerecorded with better equipment! All you are is nostalgic for the tininess of old generation tech, who publishes this crap?
So with that in mind I recently saw how Bethesda put their foot in the ring to get the Starfield soundtrack entered into the Grammy's consideration, and I had to think a while about it. I can't remember if Fallout 4's soundtrack was similarly treated by Bethesda as award worthy, but I seem to find myself as the only modern Fallout fan who seems to deeply detest the incidentals of 4 and am wondering if that same disconnect between me and the world is present with Starfield too. And to be clear, I didn't always hate the Fallout 4 incidental music, I thought it was fine, if a bit overly grandiose and bombastic, but time has soured me greatly- so maybe the same will be due to happen for Starfield over the course of the years. It's hard to say in the moment.
For me the very worst of Fallout 4's soundtrack is the Brotherhood of Steel theme, Honor and Steel. It's so heady with trumpets and militaristic steel drum rattles that it comes across as almost mocking of the 'American Military' routes of the Brotherhood themselves. The horn section in particular, which leads the track largely, seems so ceaseless and droning that even though the track itself does have some stages, the ear never feels like it travels anywhere. And again, the bombast of the track defies any sinking into the background one might hope for, you can't settle into the emotions of the music because it's not incidental, it's just music. I would play Fallout 4 with the Radio on to avoid this, but unfortunately I've grown sick of all the vanilla radio tracks too. Maybe Fallout just isn't my game anymore, I dunno.
Starfield's biggest crime, I think, is making me afraid it's about to go into 'Honor and Steel' with a few of it's overtures. It never does, and I breath a quiet sigh of relief every time, but there's certainly some of the DNA of Inon Zur's earlier work slathered across Starfield. I don't hate it, I just wish that Bethesda went with a different composer to create a different feeling universe, even at it's best the Starfield theme just feels like a slightly whimsier version of Fallout, less ponderous and more sweeping. (Not that Fallout 4's tracks has a great amount of space for 'ponderance' in them anyway.) I can say, at least, that I was never once swept away by the emotion of a track like Skyrim and Morrowind regularly do for me. (And I've played Skyrim way more than any Fallout, just for context.)
Besides, if I spare a moment to think about the sorts of games that Starfield is going up against in the category of OST- it doesn't look all that promising. Final Fantasy XVI's music (another target in that Metro article I mentioned) certainly has it's staunch lovers even if I don't think they did anything insanely stand out for a Final Fantasy soundtrack personally. (XV's is still better in my book.) But Baldur's Gate 3... I mean, come on! Their music slid perfectly into the 'high fantasy' genre of notes but in such interesting ways, with such curious and memorable motifs and quirks- and those are just the OSTs! Baldur's Gate also features several insanely memorable lyrics-driven songs as well, from the gorgeous character creation/main menu song "Down by the River", to the epically self-centred "Raphael's Last Dance" and we can't forget the haunting "I Want To Live." There's not even a competition, BG3 takes the cake again. (They really did not miss with that game, did they?)
Of course some might call that comparison a little bit wantonly unfair due to the very different roles that the Soundtracks are playing in their respective games. Baldur's Gate has a specific adventure it wants to send it's people on, one with very specific set pieces that the team can orchestrate exact musical pieces in order to breath life into them- beats to be followed, a beginning, middle and end. Starfield's OST is victim to Bethesda's growing disconnect with what their audience wants. There are no real set piece-specific tracks, the majority of the music tracks are spent basking in the grand size of the world, because that's really what they want to do at the heart of Starfield- pat themselves on the back and rant on about their crazy 'size'. Like a novel that trundles on for several hundred chapters but lacks any real punchy moments or characters that you come away remembering. Replace 'characters' with 'tracks' and the analogy isn't half bad.
For me the formula that makes any soundtrack stand out sits above the rather nebulous 'qualifiers' you here intimated by most casual listeners who simply want a song that can 'exist as a track on its own.' I could not care less about that. Music without context is just frivolous noise to my ear, I disown it. What I love is music that has a journey, that goes on an adventure, that leads me places. A tight but diverse minute long track can thrill me, just as an 6 minute anthem can- as long as that Anthem has as many twists and turns as 'Bury The Light' does. And I'm coming to the realisation that my preference might just simply not be Inon Zur's style. But then again... I do love the Wild Western twang of New Vegas, which was also by Zur, so maybe there's more secret sauce in there.
Again, I'm not an expert on music and at the end of the day I only know what sounds good to me. None of the music I've spoken about today, even the Brotherhood of Steel track I hate so vehemently, is in anyway objectively bad. These are professional pieces of music composed by people in full control of their art and craft- but if we're going to start getting into award season and objectivity creeps into the equation; well, then personal taste does start to gain some small value. It's not my general dissatisfaction with Starfield which taints my perspective, and I understand well enough the separation between the arts. I just think Starfield's music missed a few too many opportunities to elicit something new and interesting; which might be a bit indicative as to why the game itself feels so familiar. What I really think should be taken away from this, is that most people know nothing about music, especially guest writers for the Metro- I mean come on!
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