Monday, December 02, 2019

Let the Winter Tunes Begin! /// Music Monday #64

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The time where we find wintery music and listen to it while watching snow gently fall, or while cozying up by the fireplace.


Our first venture into this territory of tunes is . . .

"Mountaintop Secrets" from Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Composed by Yoko Shimomura


I have not played Paper Jam yet (still gotta finish Dream Team first!), but I do know it seems to get a fair bit of flack. I'm really not sure why, because the concept of the Mario & Luigi and the Paper Mario series colliding with each other sounds like a super fun idea. But whether or not the game ends up being good, one thing is certain: the soundtrack is excellent. Because Yoko Shimomura.

She created a track that sounds like a mysterious, snow-covered mountaintop, and the result is absolutely gorgeous. It's super calming and just a delight to the ears. For some reason, to me, it sounds like it would be from a Zelda game--particularly Skyward Sword--rather than a Mario RPG.

The instrumentation in the song is so on-point. The way the flute carries a good chunk of the song, but there's those nice strings in the background. (It's a harp, right? At some points, it almost sounds like an acoustic guitar.) And then are some instruments that give off a cold sound, if that makes sense. Like, if you could hear chilly air in music, that's what it would sound like. I dunno what it is, but I will keep saying that Ms. Shimomura is an absolute genius when it comes to music, especially the Mario & Luigi franchise.

Apologies for the shorter post, but I don't know what all to say when I don't know the context of the song in its source material. What'd you think of it? Is it a good way to kick off the winter tunes?

1 comment:

  1. Before I had even read what you said about the song I was thinking, "Wow, this is super calming." :D It IS though. And you're totally right, it does sound more like a Zelda song than Mario, which is always a compliment 'cause Zelda music is my FAVE. (Although you can never go wrong with Mario music either, duh.)

    Definitely a good winter song to start out with. Can't wait for the others! Happy December!!!

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