There was a slight sense of anticlimax following the premiere The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. It’s obviously a very good game, but maybe it falls a little low of the greatness we expect from the series. The novel, indirect gameplay style, in which Zelda summons echoes of objects and monsters to solve puzzles and win battles, raises many questions for both players and game designers, and it feels like it’s not fully realized. Even Princess Zelda’s first starring role in the series that has borne her name for 38 years comes with a disturbing asterisk or two.
But there is one aspect Echoes of Wisdom which fully meets – perhaps even exceeds – fans’ enormous expectations for the Zelda series. This is music. In terms of musicality, production, and unexpected conceptual genius, this may be Nintendo’s best, most electrifying, and most relevant soundtrack since… maybe Mario Kart 8?
This may sound like a strange comparison, but hear me out. Everyone knows that Mario Kart 8soundtrack kicks ass. Why gives a kick? Partly because it reimagines classic video game music in a novel context. It takes crazy, funky chip tuning motifs from the 16-bit era and arranges them in a way that live jazz-funk band complete with driving lead guitar, crazy bass and a full horn section. It’s a substantial, electrifying sound that enhances and refreshes something nostalgic – but also humanizes it and makes it more analog, so it has an even deeper connection with the listener. Tears.
Echoes of Wisdomthe soundtrack begins (but does not end) with a similarly elementary, similarly brilliant instrumentation idea: What if Zelda music but woodwinds? In the opening stages, the dominant melodies and tones are reinforced by clarinets, oboes, recorders and penny whistles playing on a modest string section. It’s an unexpected and delightful sound: toasty, innocent but not overly childlike, intimate but with a sense of mystery and even melancholy.
Music for Echoes of Wisdom was written by a team of composers working under the direction of music director: Nintendo veteran Hajime Wakai. Wakai has already reinvented Zelda music twice. First he did the obvious thing and blew it up in a theater with a full orchestra Sky Sword. Then as a sound director for Breath of the Wild AND Tears of the Kingdomhe oversaw a radical shift in tactics towards a fragile, ambient approach, led by sinuous, unresolved piano lines.
Also – just as essential for Echoes of Wisdom score, if not more – Wakai was the composer of the original Pikminand wrote many of the characteristic songs in this series. Pikmin games feature a unique musical soundscape, with growling synths describing hazy melodies coupled with strange, shuffling, pulsating rhythms. Wakai’s instinct is not always to create music that is grand and enveloping. IN Echoes of Wisdomlike in Pikmin, he simplifies the arrangement enough that you can hear each of his unusual instrumentation choices, drawing the viewer into a toy-like world rather than being immersed in a cinematic one.
Echoes of Wisdomthe score is also melodically fun. Much more than Breath of the Wild AND Tears of the Kingdomthis soundtrack reaches back into the past, with many nods to the great Koji Kondo’s Zelda soundtracks – his original theme and immortal Ocarina of Time result especially. But instead of repeating Kondo’s melodies, Echoes score repeatedly takes half a phrase from them and then goes somewhere else. The main world music begins with the familiar fanfare, then writes an entirely novel, less edgy, more lyrical Zelda theme around the chord progression of the aged one. The ranch theme plays the first three notes of “Epona’s Song” and then retires to a relaxed recorder playing along with acoustic guitar, mandolin, and bongos. Truly wonderful music for Sea Zora village recalls the harp arpeggio from “Zora’s Domain”, but then intertwines it with a melodic flute, plucked guitar and tinkling bells.
There are many more of these lovely melodies, witty arrangements and lovely music for you to enjoy full soundtrack. The point, though, is that Wakai and his collaborators approached this score the same way the designers approached the game – with the goal of using the familiar, nostalgic joys of The Legend of Zelda as a starting point for a novel journey and fresh reinterpretation. It must be admitted that the musicians performed better.
