Duo Dividum

Here's a link to the playlist on Youtube:

These tracks were made in under 48 hours for OST Composing Jam: CRUNCHTIME, with the theme of "Two Worlds" -- I decided to interpret this theme by combining two different music genres, orchestra/prog rock and metal, using harsh transitions between the two to highlight the differences. As for the composition itself, the (optional) theme image was giving off some mega-altered reality vibes, so I decided to go with a creepy/haunting tone with a lot of accidentals. There's a few key motifs that appear throughout the songs, representing the idea of reality itself as it shifts and changes around the player.

The title, Duo Dividum, is Latin for "divided into two" (according to good old Google Translate, as well as my own preschool-level knowledge of Latin), implying that the "two worlds" of the prompt may have been one world at a point. I was imagining one of two games: one where the protagonist explores different realities, or a political strategy immersive sim set in the middle of a peoples' revolution -- the "two worlds" being the worlds of the upper and lower class, which is somewhat reflected in the album cover.

Tracklist:

1. Discovery (3m32s)
   1. Genre: Neoclassical Prog Rock / Metal
   2. This song is meant to be the title screen/main theme of the game, referencing the moment when the player first discovers that there's another world -- they're thrown into it unprepared, encountering all sorts of trials they never knew existed.
2. Devil's Dance (2m26s)
   1. Genre: Neoclassical Waltz
   2. This is an "overworld"-type theme that plays when the protagonist is moving out of their comfort zone. It's in the form of a waltz that gets ever more dissonant until the player returns to their home, at which point the dissonance is resolved. +10pts to any listener who identifies the musical pun I've made with this one.
3. Dangerman (4m02s)
   1. Genre: Power Metal Bop
   2. This was a fun one to write. It's a boss fight/climactic action theme, featuring the most actual harmony of all the songs since it's the one at which point the player has the most power in the game. Still snuck in a few of the motifs from previous tracks, though. It's also designed to be loopable.
4. Deeper, Ever Deeper (3m31s)
   1. Genre: Neoclassical House Jazz
   2. There's a fun dichotomy in this one between the classical/jazz instrumentation in the first section and the house/EDM instrumentation in the second, even though they both use the same chord progressions and rhythm (albeit in different key signatures). That slightly-off tempo piano vamp in the second section is perhaps my favorite bit of the entire soundtrack!
5. Dark Dawn (3m20s)
   1. Genre: Spooky Neoclassical Prog Rock
   2. In my mind, this is another overworld-type theme, probably unique to a specific location within whatever game it gets used in. As with a few of the previous tracks, this was a fun one to write, blending a bit of the elements of the first and third songs.
6. Duo Dividum (5m02s)
   1. Genre: Neoclassical Prog Rock Ballet
   2. Believe it or not, this one is actually indirectly inspired by Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake theme, though, as I'm sure you're aware, I'm nowhere near as talented of a composer as him. I'm not even sure if it's too pretentious to say that this was inspired by Swan Lake -- but that's beside the point. I imagined this could be used as some sort of emotional track within the game, probably for some big reveal or climactic moment.
7. Dénouement (3m41s)
   1. Genre: Another Neoclassical Waltz
   2. This was the final track that I wanted to include in the jam submission, but didn't have time for. As the title suggests, this is meant to be played during the conclusion of the game, and the overall-pleasant tone that I was going for implies a happy ending. The classical guitar work in this track is perhaps my second-favorite aspect of this entire OST, just because it was fun to write and I find it enjoyable to listen to.

Total length: 25m24s

Note: only the first three songs were included and judged in the OST Composing Jam: CRUNCHTIME competition.