Please help me find more music similar to this video game soundtrack.

February 8, 2014 9:39 PM

I just played the game Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (it's fantastic, go play it!), and I really enjoyed the soundtrack.

The track Naia especially moved me, it's so sparse and emotional. What would you call this sound? Are those vocals doing a sort of yodel, or is than an instrument? I want to explore more music that sounds and feels like this. Thanks!

posted by xedrik to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

It kind of reminds me of the Bastion soundtrack.
posted by zscore at 9:56 PM on February 8, 2014

Hah. I was downloading Gustaf Grefberg's music from BBS's in like 1994, before MP3s were a thing! (a very different sound)

He's pretty techy-nerdy so I'd expect that those vocals are a sample that he manipulated, or entirely synthesized.
posted by aubilenon at 9:59 PM on February 8, 2014

Best answer: You'd probably like the soundtrack for Journey.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:45 AM on February 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Seconding the Journey soundtrack. Austin Wintory is the composer; I've been listening to more of his stuff on Last.fm lately.
posted by JimBJ9 at 7:42 AM on February 9, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks, all! I do like the Bastion soundtrack, but in this case I'm looking for something more sparse and atmospheric, and the Journey soundtrack fits right in there.
posted by xedrik at 1:18 PM on February 9, 2014

Best answer: Hmm. Kind of a tough one; the sound doesn't really map readily onto a genre. It sounds vaguely Celtic, but again, that doesn't quite describe it either. I was actually going to recommend the Journey soundtrack as well, but I've been thoroughly beaten to the punch.

Some suggestions that may or may not be close to what you're looking for:

• The Papo and Yo soundtrack - it has a different sound, but I think it definitely fits on the sparse, atmospheric front, and has a lot of emotional weight. (BTW, awesome game; I think you'd like it if you liked Brothers.)
• The Braid soundtrack has a few tracks you might want to check out
• Myst III: Exile soundtrack and Myst IV: Revelations soundtrack
• Calling All Dawns by Christopher Tin
• Shanon's Celtic Classics II has a rendition of Scotland the Brave that might fit the bill.
• The Gladiator soundtrack, especially the "Elysium" track
• The Limbo soundtrack - quite a bit darker than Brothers, but definitely sparse and atmospheric.

posted by Aleyn at 12:10 AM on February 10, 2014

I feel exactly the same way you do about both the game and the soundtrack. I get a similar feeling from the music of Jonsi, specifically the soundtrack to the movie "We Bought A Zoo." The soundtrack to "Beasts of the Southern Wild" also has that feel for me.
posted by jbickers at 6:39 AM on February 10, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for the Papo and Yo soundtrack; it's very close to that sound I'm looking for, and it's great music too!
posted by xedrik at 11:19 AM on February 10, 2014

Response by poster: Ooh! I didn't catch this before, but down at the bottom of the Brothers soundtrack page, one of the credits is "Kulning (vocals) by Emma Sunbring", which lead me to a Wikipedia entry on Kulning, and onward from there to lots more music in exactly this vocal style! Plenty just on youtube.
posted by xedrik at 1:05 PM on February 11, 2014