Scarlet Folk Song –By the Light of the Heart–/Gil on the Keys

Track 6-21: Scarlet Folk Song –By the Light of the Heart–

This is a piece performed by a lute player on a moonlit night in Hikari and Agnea’s cross story. The huge full moon hovering in the background made for very memorable staging.

The title, “Scarlet Folk Song,” is not an existing phrase. When I was brainstorming the title with director [Keisuke] Miyauchi, we decided we wanted a title that suggested an ancient Ku tune that had been handed down from performer to performer over the generations. From there, we came up with the idea of this piece as one of several “Scarlet Folk Songs” sung in Ku since ancient times, which is what the title is meant to express.

Track 6-22: Gil on the Keys

In my post about “Partitio’s Theme,” I mentioned that the first demo I made for that track was rejected for not quite having the right feel, but then ultimately reused in this track, “Gil on the Keys.” Normally, when making a demo like this, I start with a piano sketch; for this piece, the basic vibe of the sketch is close to the finished form. It’s supposed to be Gil improvising, and too much polish would rob it of that feeling, so there’s a little roughness intentionally left in.

For the recording, we brought in a professional pianist who referred to and drew on the sketch I wrote, but played it with a more improvised, causal feel. That pianist was Takurou Iga (@igatakurou), who is active as both performer and composer.

Translation: Matt Treyvaud