Hello everyone! As promised in the last blog post, I come to you today bearing a great many gifts! I know I missed my usual once-monthly post last month, but I think you’ll find that it was worth it. I’m not going to bore you with progress updates or my usual ramblings: Let’s get into some MUSIC!
Like I mentioned last time, I commissioned 4 musical themes to accompany the most major players in the Restart Again series, those being Lux, Lia, Val, and Amaya. It seemed like this was the most logical place to start, but after hearing the final results, I can promise you that this is not where it will end! There will be more pieces coming at a later date; how many, I can’t say, but there WILL be more. This is only the beginning!
Let’s kick things off with our main character! Lux has always languished a bit in the extended media department in comparison to his costars. I have a penchant for letting the mainly female cast take the spotlight in the art department, but that is certainly not the case on this project! Without further ado, here is the first piece:
Lamentation (Lux’s Theme) by @plac_holder
Goosebumps! I wanted something that would deliver a bit of a melancholy feel for Lux (I’ve not been the kindest author in terms of his journey, have I?) and I think that was delivered in spades! My original conceit was to give each character a major instrument to carry their theme, and I think the guitar will be very versatile in Lux’s musical future.
Taking a step back in time a bit, let’s see how our favorite Alderean resident has fared in the musical department:
Midsummer’s Breeze (Amaya’s Theme) by @plac_holder
As we’re always meeting Amaya in the form of flashbacks, it seemed appropriate to give her a nostalgic and wistful theme. Similarly, our favorite spot on that shady hill translates quite well through the flute arrangement; it’s almost as if I can feel that midsummer’s breeze when I’m listening. Alright, maybe that’s a bit too poetic, but it’s a beautiful song!
Moving along to our current Kaldanic cast, let’s see what our lovely leading lady is up to:
With Zeal (Lia’s Theme) by @plac_holder
I wanted to make sure that Lia and Amaya were very distinct in their musical voices while filling a similar role in relation to our main character, and that certainly came to life in her theme. There’s a similar warmth to her piece, but the brightness of the sax and the jazzy flares really give her the proper amount of zeal that her character deserves.
Last, but not least, our most royal Yorian Commander:
Stalwart and Headstrong (Val’s Theme) by @plac_holder
Out of all of the pieces, I think it’s safest to say that anybody familiar with Restart Again would’ve identified this as Val’s piece. Powerful and regal, horn fanfares and marching snares, it’s got everything to play into her identity as a military commander. Fantastic stuff!
There you have it, folks! The four main characters of Restart Again now have musical themes. As you most likely noticed, all of these pieces were composed by @plac_holder on Twitter, whomst you should most definitely go follow. Not only will they be working on some future tracks with me (some of which will get previewed on their timeline from time to time!), but they also post tons of other fantastic music totally unrelated to me and my little fantasy world! Please go give them a follow and some kind words for what a fantastic job they did on this project.
It feels silly to do anything but end the blog post here, yet I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer you a progress update. Volume 5’s draft is just about to hit the 195,000 word mark, which is somehow still on my usual pace. I find this surprising given the amount of Baldur’s Gate 3 I’ve been playing lately, but I do my best to balance all of my hobbies. If you keep up with the draft on Royal Road, you’ve already seen the TWO chapters I posted since my last blog post.
I’ve long since given up estimating when things will be finished, but I know we’re approaching the endgame now. We’re most likely 2.5 chapters away from the end, depending on how things go. Maybe it’s 1.5, but that 1 will be big. Maybe 3 if thing start to spill over. That most likely means we will not see the official release of Volume 5 in the year 2023. That’s a bit disappointing, but necessary in order to release the best book I can.
It’s still crazy to me that I now have music associated with my books. What was once a passing fancy is now a wonderful reality! When I find myself with the drive and the wherewithal to be more organized, I’ll make an official music page on this here website where all of the pieces can live. Also, as each of those tracks were designed to be able to loop, I will be uploading them in longer 30 minute-ish videos to YouTube (again, once I find myself capable of editing them and finding a visual to slap on).
I’m going to go listen to some lovely music now, and I recommend you do the same. Until next time, stay safe out there, and as always, thanks for reading!
~Adam
Beautiful music 🎶❤️