Episode 21: Journey

Art of the Score

In Episode 21 we finally make good on our long-held promise to explore the world of videogame music, with Austin Wintory’s beautiful score for thatgamecompany’s Journey. Crucial to the experience of Journey, Wintory’s music was recognized with a Grammy nomination and is widely held to be one of the greatest videogame scores of all time. Join us as we take a videogame diversion and analyse this gorgeous soundtrack. Episode notes: 5:20 – How does videogame music differ from film or television? 8:50 – Dan’s complicated menu music 10:05 – thatgamecompany’s journey to Journey, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘flow’ 16:12 – The rise of independent videogame development and aesthetics 18:20 – Nascence and Wintory’s main Journey theme 21:50 – Tina Guo’s cello, Amy Tatum’s flute, and Charissa Barger’s harp 26:30 – Solo cello in Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hans Zimmer’s The Last Samurai 31:20 – Journey’s central weenie 33:45 – The Call, the sonic palate cleanser 38:10 – The Mountain 41:33 – Sound design and music in Journey 44:02 – The First Confluence and the absence of a downbeat 48:48 – The Bridge and the Second Confluence 51:50 – The first encounter and Journey’s dance 55:30 – ‘I was born for this’ 58:05 – The Desert’s Threshold and the musical interactivity of Journey 1:04:10 – The melancholy beauty of the machines 1:10:25 – The Descent, and Nick’s musical snowboarding adventures 1:20:16 – The Belly of the Whale’s Serpent 1:26:08 – The gaze of the sentinals 1:28:18 – Journey’s achingly beautiful string writing and Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten 1:34:40 – Atonement and the giant structure 1:38:56 – Journey’s Buddhist links 1:47:03 – The ascent to the peak (‘The Crossing’) 1:55:12 – The nadir 2:01:10 – Apotheosis and the hero realised 2:12:24 – The return to Tina Guo’s solo cello 2:18:28 – What does Journey mean? Is it a metaphor? 2:21:22 – The Return? Finally, if listeners are unfamiliar with Journey, we highly recommend checking out this video recording of a playthrough of the game from start to finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkL94nKSd2M We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.