Review Summary: An emotional and affecting soundtrack that can stand on its own two feet
A video game contains many factors that must strike a delicate balance for it to be a success. The very best video games have each of these disparate elements working in harmony, where the graphical style, storyline, and music all play off one another to give the consumer the best possible experience. Because of all these ingredients, however, the composer for a soundtrack must take far more into consideration than your average musician. Not only must the music mesh with the game's atmosphere, there must be compositions that mirror developments within the game. Triumphant songs, sombre tracks, all following the protagonists trials and tribulations whilst never being over-bearing or distracting the player. For a soundtrack to remain suitable for a video game, yet still transcend it's boundaries and stand as a musical achievement separate of the game itself is an admirable feat, and David Housden accomplishes exactly that with his soundtrack for
Thomas Was Alone.
Where many soundtracks struggle is in establishing variation without it feeling forceful or abrupt. In lengthy games, it is often difficult to design a soundtrack that flows, instead consisting of a simple 'sad song, uplifting song, rinse and repeat' formula in order to keep the soundtrack from bloating unnecessarily, blowing it out to 5 or 6 cds. Thankfully, that is not the case here. Matching the short length of the video game is a concise soundtrack, containing 13 evocative tracks that are all important to both the story and the flow of the album. Opening the album, highlight “Where Are You?” begins with a simple piano melody and slowly develops from there. Soft piano chords ring out, the space in between being punctuated by synths and 8-bit, creating a dreamy atmosphere that steadily builds steam as violins and cellos enter the mix. The song ebbs and flows, rising to a small crescendo of sorts, but it doesn't rush to it's peak, fading away before it becomes overbearing. This track sums up the album perfectly, short and simple (13 tracks with the longest one being a meagre 4 minutes and 6 seconds) but still as emotive and compelling as the game itself.
Following on from the opener, the tracks slowly gain a more morose tone, becoming spacier and darker until we reach the middle section of the album. The stretch from 'United We Stand' through to 'A Time For Change' is the most coherent section of the album, where each track contributes to the ones before and after it. The latter half of 'Ghosts of the Past' contains a stunning post-rock build-up of tremolo-picked guitar and electronics backed by a repeated synth motif from the opening track, that continues throughout the following song. 'Lost' moves from an orchestral opening, to a colder electronic middle portion, before moving towards more emotive synths, mirroring emotional turmoil and instability in this stage of the game while also succeeding in being a snapshot of the albums middle stretch. The pounding drums that pummel away through the latter part of 'A Time For Change' mark the end for this part of the album, and the songs move away from atmosphere building to more evocative standalone tracks.
Each track from 'Escape' until the end of the album has it's own intro, build-up and climax, providing some of the best tracks that can be found on the album, but marking a small stylistic change from the rest of the album. Where most of the album relies on contextuality to build a story out of it's music, these songs are individual packages. While stunning in their own right, the composers choice to change tact affects the album's replay value slightly, where one may find themselves craving specific songs instead of the soundtrack as a whole. This simple blemish on an otherwise perfect album is all that holds it back from receiving a classic rating.
While the album contains many different elements, each of them contributes to the album's purpose. The chiptune and 8-bit gives the album a charming air of childish discovery, whilst the strings and piano melodies provide an affecting soundscape for the synths to weave their emotive story over.
Thomas Was Alone is a true musical accomplishment that has rarely, if ever been matched before. The album is a poignant statement about the possibilities for variation and expansion in chiptune and 8-bit music as a whole. While the album cannot be called 'chiptune' in the strictest sense of the word (electronic ambient is about as close a genre definition as can be applied), this album can stand proud alongside great albums like Disasterpeace's
Fez OST as the pinnacle of newer generation indie game soundtracks. With an emotional depth rarely found in soundtracks, and a musical palette to match the most lauded of composers, David Housden has created a masterpiece.
