Soundtrack Saturday: Ico

 

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 Ico by Japan Studio & Team Ico.

THE STATS

Name: Ico
Developer: Japan Studio & Team Ico
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: September 24, 2001
Genres: Action-adventure
Composer: Michiru Ōshima (with Koichi Yamazaki & Mitsukuni Murayama, aka pentagon)

MY FAVORITE TRACKS

(The full list of tracks are linked by playlist below... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!)

Castle in the Mist

(Length: 3:05) This track reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it. The harmonization of strings is mesmerizing to listen to.

Beginning

(Length: 1:26) The beginning of this reminds me of a George Winston piece I knew growing up from an animated video of The Velveteen Rabbit, a piece called Thanksgiving -- when the toy rabbit has been thrown out with other items that the boy had while ill. I get the same sort of melancholy vibe from this track.

Heal

(Length: 1:39) I can see (hear) from this track how Michiru ended up later working on music for Twilight Princess.

Entity

(Length: 2:09) Nice and sinister! Every game needs at least one track like this. 

You Were There

(Length: 4:26) This is the track everyone talks about. It's the most complex of the entire OST, and the vocals give it much more depth. That synth-y piano definitely dates the track, but it's still well-composed.

You can listen to the full soundtrack on YouTube:

Ico OST 

WHY DO I RECOMMEND IT?

This isn't a very long soundtrack, but the game earned itself a cult following. I've never played it myself (or heard of it until compiling a list -- but it was a console game at a time when I only had a 90's Dell PC and had to rely on AOL dial-up). However, there's some strong compositional elements in all of the tracks, even the short ones. It's clear to see that Michiru was over a decade into her developing career and was headed for the prolific status she holds today.

THE COMPOSER: MICHIRU ŌSHIMA

If you're a gamer and you like anime and movies, there's an amazingly good chance you've heard works by this talented composer! She's scored hundred of movies, tv series, video games, events, concerts and theater works. You can see her filmography work here, and her video game discography here. 

As for the 2-person sound unit called "pentagon" that also worked on the soundtrack (Koichi Yamazaki & Mitsukuni Murayama), there's not as much to find about them. They handled the more ambient tracks of the game.

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