Soundtrack Saturday: Remember Me

In this weekly feature, I recommend game soundtracks. I share a few of my favorite tracks, talk about why everyone should listen to the soundtrack, and a little bit about the composer. This week's choice is Remember Me by Dontnod Entertainment.

THE STATS

Name: Remember Me
Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: June 3, 2013
Genres: Action-adventure
Composer(s): Olivier Deriviere

MY FAVORITE TRACKS

(The titles link to YouTube videos... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!)

• Memorize
  This is my absolute most favorite track. The song named for the corporation that has monetized and monopolized memories, there is fantastic build-up which has a very machine-like sound before it gives way to floaty strings and woodwinds at 1:45. There is fight-back from the brass and percussion of the machine-like beginning and it crescendos to the end of the piece. For me, it evokes the essence of Memorize, how they stomped on in and took a beautiful aspect of humanity and turned it into their cash cow at the price of the very humanity of those they are selling their product to.
• Chase Through MontmartreThis piece spans several moods, as it's intended. It is the soundtrack to a fight or flight. Saying more would spoil the game, so just enjoy the way this piece swells from one theme to the next.
• Our Parents
  This song reminds you that the entire soundtrack was composed and recorded as all-out contemporary classical. The composition is beautiful and opens up elegantly just after the 2-minute mark.
• Rise to the Light
  This track takes you from the mysterious, dark underbelly of Neo-Paris where the Leapers "live," up to the lowest slums where struggling people at least have a little light in their world -- literally. This is the music that plays alongside the literal traversing of the path in the game. It's powerful and really sets the tone!
• Fragments
  I'd be in trouble if I didn't include this track. This is the music that plays for you during fights if you successfully land your combo hits. If you miss, you endure agonizing silence. Building the layers of this piece make it an inspiration to learn your combos well.

You can listen to the full soundtrack on YouTube by clicking here: 

Remember Me OST

WHY I RECOMMEND IT

Remember Me is one of my Top 10 Favorite Games, largely because of this soundtrack. The score was recorded with a 70-piece orchestra by composer Olivier Deriviere, who then modified it and changed it using electronic equipment to give it the tech-y, glitchy sounds. As quoted in an interview with Game Informer, he said that during his first contact with the game he was quite confused by so much information and felt that the music should reflect that confusion. He disclosed that players would not hear the main theme until the end of the game, given that it is scattered through the rest of the score to reflect the nature of the game and the story of Nilin. Not surprisingly, he was awarded the 2013 IFMCA award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media.

The facts and fluff from Wikipedia aside, I thoroughly enjoy listening to this soundtrack. I have been a musician for roughly 27 years, to the extent that my Minor in college was Instrumental Music. I've had numerous years of musical study which included theory, composition, and ear training. As such an individual, I encourage you to listen to this soundtrack from beginning to end. You may find the electronic interference jarring at first, but keep in mind that this is the soundtrack to a game about a society in which memories have been commoditized and monopolized by the company Memorize, and the protagonist is an Errorist named Nilin who has had the majority of her memories taken from her -- and she is fighting against the company to right the injustices and atrocities that have been inflicted upon people and led to countless deaths and poverty.

THE COMPOSER: OLIVIER DERIVIERE

It's very likely you've never heard this name before unless you frequent websites about video game music, or are simply a music nerd like myself. Deriviere is a French video game composer, and you may be familiar with some of the titles he's scored for: Alone in the Dark, Obscure, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag -- Freedom Cry, The Technomancer, Vampyr, A Plague Tale: Innocence, GreedFall, and next year's Dying Light 2.

There are many more titles in his repertoire, and he seems fond of recording music with live musicians rather than using a lot of electronic elements. As a musician myself, I can tell you that doing so adds a level of emotion and connection in the music that undoubtedly helps the players of the video games immerse further and more deeply enjoy what they're playing.