Often when we talk about music’s “replay value,” we’re talking about music that holds up after a couple spins on the ol’ record player. But what about music that you maybe had to listen to for upwards of 14 hours while you tried again, again, again, again, and again to just get that one god damn strawberry! Music that still sounds great after all that must be something really special.
Well, Lena Raine — composer of the award-winning score for the award-winning Celeste (one of our favorite video games of 2018) — isn’t anywhere near done making really special music. In fact, she’s just announced what she’s calling her “debut artist album:” a collection of original songs titled Oneknowing.
Oneknowing, out March 29 on Local Action, is comprised of 10 electronic compositions that feature vocals by Rainer herself, manipulated with Vocaloid and sung in a “language unique to the album.” That’s 10 new songs that you can listen to while you play other platform games with worse music. (But why would you do that?)
“I have nostalgia for my voice as it sounded when I was younger,” Raine writes about the unique vocal approach. “I can’t de-age my voice, but I was able to use software and tweak its settings to a point that it has a similar quality to my voice from back then.”
Even after you throw your computer out a window trying to beat the world record deathless summit speedrun, you’ll still want to keep around a Discman or something to listen to this unique, expressive album. For now, head here to pre-order; then, just close your eyes, listen to the album track “Tsukuyomi” down below, and pretend you live in a world where you’re not such a casul.
Oneknowing tracknowinglisting:
01. Nightmare (Intro)
02. Tsukuyomi
03. A Chance To Rest
04. Light Rail
05. Breath
06. Insomnia
07. Trance State
08. Momodani
09. Wake Up
10. Aurora
More about: Lena Raine
