Moonlight Tracks: A Quiet Voice in the Wind (Review)

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Well, Fragile Dreams is finally out in the United States. When Namco Bandai released the game in Japan, I never thought I’d see it make its way over here, but we have XSEED to thank once again for taking a risk with this beautiful title. Last month we mentioned ^[2] that XSEED was also bringing over the Moonlight Tracks pre-order bonus CD, which surprised me even further. While you can be entirely unfun along with Patrick and note that the full 2-disc soundtrack is available from TEAM Entertainment in Japan, I still appreciate these bonuses, and hope XSEED continues spoiling their fans.

So, what is Moonlight Tracks, anyway? The pre-order disc actually contains 12 songs from the game, including two vocal themes. The music is rather varied, offering a wide selection of what Fragile Dreams has to offer. The score, composed entirely by Riei Saito, is mainly atmospheric orchestral and piano music, and sounds simply great. Hopefully you picked up the CD when you picked up the game!

Find out what the disc has to offer in our review after the jump.

First of all, the track titles on this album are very fitting.

“A Dedication To… Everyone” starts us off with a beautiful string and piano piece. The pause in the track title is reflected quite nicely in the contemplative progression of the piece. The introduction wanders about in a whimsical fashion before finding its voice, which is carried by decisive piano notes. Tracks like “Silver-Haired Girl” and “Together with the Moon” then go on to introduce a mysterious atmosphere with a descending stop-and-go piano melody in the former and some striking pizzicato strings in the latter.

Again with the appropriate track titles, “How Beautiful” features layers of string swells along with drawn-out woodwind notes that sound like a serene sunrise. “Tell me Why,” on the other hand, is a measured piano piece that works in pauses, almost as if to allow for a response to the question in the track title. “Friends” flutters about with high-pitched piano arpeggios and deep chords that act to ground the piece, coming as both playful and serious at the same time. While “Awesome!” is admittedly a funny translation, the piece slowly builds over the course of a minute, opening with sudden and somewhat jarring piano chords before a droning ambient pad and strings join the mix, creating a swell of emotion.

There are some darker tracks here as well. “Malice” features dissonance piano notes and strings with lots of vibrato that create an unpleasant buzzing sensation. The tension builds with string stabs and deep, repetitive string motifs and heavy piano notes. It’s quite an impressive contrast to the previous tracks. “Must Eliminate…” sounds like a Jeremy Soule battle theme with explosive string stabs and lots of chopping. The melody is pretty damn cool as well, but the track does actually clip at certain points, which is a shame given what an amazing piece of music it is.

The last two tracks on the disc are vocal themes. “Opening Theme: ‘Hikari'” features music by Takuya Watanabe and vocals by Aoi Teshima, and acts as a dreamy pop ballad with only piano to back up Teshima’s sweet voice. While the lyrics are in Japanese, the sound of Teshima’s voice is not only warm and comforting, but even a bit moving. The last track, “Ending Theme: ‘Tsuki no Nukumori'” also sports Teshima’s voice, but has music provided by Tsukasa Takahashi. Despite the fact that this one also features only piano and Teshima’s voice, it feels much more pop-oriented, and doesn’t stand out nearly as much. I did have to do a double-take, however, when I heard the opening chord and two notes that sound exactly like the beginning of “Aerith’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VII.

As far as presentation, the disc comes in a simple cardboard sleeve. I do like the fact that they provided localized track translations from the Japanese version. There are also quotes from the game’s producer and director, which I thought was a nice touch. “Listen… can you hear it? The quite voice in the wind…” comes courtesy of producer Kentaro Kawashima, and director Tomomi Tagawa notes that the team is happy to offer the game’s music to fans in the United States, and that they hope it brings back memories from playing the game. While it’s a rather simple gesture, I really appreciated it.

I really like the music on this disc. I suppose I’m with Patrick in wanting to go out and get the full 2-disc soundtrack after hearing this, but it’s still a very nice bonus with a lot of thought behind it. I recommend checking it out if you can get your hands on it, although the pre-order period is obviously over at this point.

What do you think of Fragile Dreams? Do you think small details like the ones included with this disc are important?