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.
#Birth by sleep ost full
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
#Birth by sleep ost portable
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.