The Sound of Fez

Fez is a wonderful video game. Released last Friday on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere $10, it's a damn steal and if you have an Xbox you should really pick it up. It appears at first to be a neat little puzzle platformer with a twist. Literally a twist. The would appears at first to be strictly two dimensional, but with a flick of the trigger buttons, you can spin the world around and find out that it actually exists in 3D space. It's a neat little trick and that's pretty much all you need to know to get through the game. There's a crazy amount of depth lurking just beyond the surface, but you can go to a video game website to read about all that. I, of course, want to talk about the music.

The Fez soundtrack recently leaked early to Spotify, and was quickly pulled. Composed by chip-tune artist Disasterpeace. It was an error that was corrected, not something more insidious. It comes out for real on the 20th. When most people think of chip-tunes, they think of Anamanaguchi. They're probably the most popular chip-tune band, with their songs being featured in games like Bit.Trip Runner and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Video Game, and as the theme song to the Nerdist podcast. Their songs are are more accessible and poppy than most chip-tuners; they use real guitars and drums in their songs instead of only using old 8-bit sound cards exclusively.

You won't find anything poppy on Disasterpeace's soundtrack. It's ambient, moody, and most importantly, if you've played the game, evocative. Releasing video game soundtracks is certainly nothing new, people have been buying orchestrated Final Fantasy soundtracks for years, but this is one of the few that I'd actually recommend. Most game soundtracks, like orchestrated movie scores are dull and awful. John Williams and Danny Elfman are great, but their job is to be a part of the movie. The Fez soundtrack does more than blend into the game though. If you're playing the game, it'll blend in and you might never notice it for what it is. Much like the game, taking a step back and really paying attention opens it up as something more.

All the tracks are associated to various parts of the game, so they're named things like "Puzzle" and "Progress." Cleverly, though, they also correspond to the song in a weird way. There are no lyrics on the album, it's purely electronic instrumentals, so one could only really describe the texture of the song. "Home" for instance, the song that plays in the main character's hometown, feels familiar and comforting. It's a neat trick having it work on both levels like that.

As for the music itself, well, you'll just have to wait for a full review after it is officially released. You can listen to most of it early over on Disasterpeace's website