The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - ty
Last week I interviewed The Binding of Isaac: Repentance Sound Team, Ridiculon. In it, Jon Evans and Matthias Bossi discussed the motivations and inspiration for the music you've been listening to since 2014 as well as the new soundtrack you'll experience later this year. Definitely read it if you have a moment.
In the dev interview Matthias and Jon spoke of a very special track titled River of Despare. We're debuting that here today for you to get a tiny feel of what you'll experience in the final game.
According to Matthias, "The River of Despare, it's a distance cousin of Sodden Hollow. Expect dank, liquidy and a slow drum groove. What you're going to hear is more of an ambient feeling of sudden hallow and what was spawned a lot of the Isaac soundtrack."
River of Despare on Soundcloud
Edmundo worked VERY closely with the Ridiculon to reach what is probably the pinnacle--the realization of that track in some form or another existing in the last six year. In the last dev update Jon and Matthias alluded to the fact that it's Matthias' favorite song that they've ever written for the Isaac canon. The reason? It's that melody, very sad and haunting. And it's constantly developing from the theremin (look it up).
Matthias describes the song as an unending theme--although it ends eventually. What you should not expect is a typical verse-chorus arrangement like a pop song. To Ridiculon they want you to think you're coming back, BUT YOU'RE NOT. Each time the theme gets turned on its head and the chorus and melody expanded further. Matthias says it's very much like something from Ennio Morricone--LOVE that man's work. Definitely look up Mr. Morricone. So it has that spaghetti western feel, like a once-upon-a-time feel.
Ridiculon and Edmund have dug deep into their souls and what we get us something that feels like the end of a story. Matthias says he doesn't know what it is about it exactly, but it's like the sad cowboy theme, "Jon plays beautifully through a Leslie speaker cabinet. If you haven't heard of one of these, they're a large speaker cabinet with built-in rotation. The speaker inside literally spins as fast or as slow as you want. So the sound becomes circular and warm. You can hear the sound swirling in space.
That combined with me playing one of my favorite drumsets. Those are my 'Isaac' drums that I only bring out for the slow ambient jams. They might as well be 55 gallon oil drums with the tops sawed off. You can't play them fast, you just have to hit them like a caveman and let them hit out. That's another win for the song."
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