Whispers of Lindwurm
In an early stage of developing and shaping the Whispers of Lindwurm series, we decided they should have their own soundtrack.
Many other fantasy universes have their distinctive music, and even though we were not aiming to create great works such as the theme for the Rohan, we wanted our universe to display its personality, feeling, and atmosphere through music.
We contacted the composer Sonsoles Dávila Alonso, who already created the music for a fantasy literature podcast and after a few meetings with her, she started creating.
The process was fun, as Cora and I researched the fathoms below of our music galleries to find something we all liked; sounds that resonated with our universe and our perception of it. We gathered a few soundtracks (and noises, like the cowbells) and sent them to Sonsoles, who started working with enthusiasm. And thus, the music for our videos was born!
My favourite part was naming the tracks. Cora and I came up with the titles that were descriptive, inspiring, epic - like our setting! These are the names we ended up choosing:
- Whispers of Lindwurm Opening Theme. The opening, the music that you hear in the intro!
- The Traveller's Path. This is a calm piece, serene and soothing, normally playing as I am explaining some lore bits.
- Shard ascending. This is the epic fanfare you hear when we introduce a new character or show a new miniature.
- Hidden in the Fog. . Here come the bells! Menacing, slightly unsettling and spooky -, this is the theme for darker topics.
- Whispers of Lindwurm Ending Theme. And the outro, the perfect and round conclusion for the whole video.
A few words from the composer of Lindwurm Whispers:
Composing the soundtrack of Whispers of Lindwurm presented us with the challenge of creating a musical piece that'd appeal to the different aspects of magic in this universe.
The first piece I worked on, Hidden in the Fog, attempts to represent the component of darkness that is present in magic. I wasn't just about to merely compose a horror theme, but also to provide it with a halo of mystery that'd generate certain expectations regarding the Fog - an element that undoubtedly hides more than one would expect. What is in no way a mystery is the variety of musical resources that elicit a sense of tension and unrest in the audience. Besides, the movie industry has seen to it that the sound of children's music boxes gives us goosebumps. For that reason, we attempted to imitate that feeling using the lyre and the vibraphone.
On the other hand, The Traveller’s Path is presented as a peaceful theme, for it was made to accompany the narration. In this case, we chose harmonic twists and instrumentation inspired by epic and medieval themes. The small piece called Shard Ascending also has an epic sound to it, with a powerful percussion section and the use of rhythmic string ostinatos intended to bring strength and character to the presentation of new characters and miniatures.
The Opening Theme is the only piece I made that also contained pre-existing music, so the creative process was much faster than in previous works. The fact of working with a video provides a lot of information regarding the rhythm since it allows to find different points of synchrony on which to base musical resources
However, the sounds of Lindwurm are not limited to the soundtrack Sonsoles composed.
Personally, there is something pivotal to my work process and that is music.
I listen to music constantly, all the time - as I wrote these paragraphs, you guessed it, I was listening to music. Since music plays such a major role in my brain, I could not help but associate songs and whole soundtracks with our nations, our situations, and of course, our characters.
You must know I have a whole playlist with more than fifty songs for the dungeon crawler game. But today I am just sharing some of them, -just a taste of what the characters from Warcrow Adventures sound like.
Bar in mind this is my personal approach, and somehow that makes it canon since… I am a developer. But yeah, this is just for fun.
I hope you enjoy the songs!
- TheFatRat & Everen Maxwell - Warbringer (feat. Lindsey Stirling) - Warbringer is the music I would give to the whole Warcrow universe. I think it expresses quite well the ascending of the Shard and the consequences it will bring to Lindwurm. This is a wargame!
- Saurom - El queso rodante. For those of you who don’t understand Spanish, let me tell you that this is a song about a bunch of “heroes” participating in Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, in the UK. And the lyrics are just perfect and they remind me of our dysfunctional family so much.
- Yoko Kanno - Mouth on Fire. I love Wolf’s Rain and its soundtrack is a great inspiration. And if you ask me, this song perfectly describes Darach’s personality. Upbeat, energetic, and happy.
- Malinda - O come O come Emmanuel. When we were creating Ludivine, Malinda and her beautiful voice were always in my mind. Not because this happens to be a spiritual song, because any of her songs would do, but because of the sweetness, the gentle caress of her voice.
Lauren Paley’s cover - Hide and Seek. Lauren Paley is a member of the Scions of Yaldabaoth and I will die on this hill. Her cover hits all the spots to create the perfect song for this nation. - Nobuyoshi Sano & Takayuki Aihara - Growing Wings. The whole Warcrow Adventures campaign could be fed on this song. Tense, unsettling, rough; this song (like the videogame, which I love), sets the perfect mood for venturing into the lands covered by the Fog and confronting its monsters.
