Entry 725 - Kuon

Style: VGM

Primary Emotions/Themes: Japanese horror ambience

Thoughts: Any time an album starts off with children singing and laughing you know it's going to mess with you. It's one of the easiest gimmicks an album can do to get me into a tense mood quickly, and Kuon does that right from the get go.

I missed the boat on Kuon, the game passed me by and I haven't had a chance to play it. That said, I do have an morbid fascination with horror game soundtracks, especially on vinyl. Something about the organic horror that comes out of so many of the games fits nicely with the pure analog experience that vinyl brings to the table. 

Kuon's soundtrack meshes traditional Japanese music with horror ambience. It's one of my favorite combinations in all of music as they both work with each other exceptionally well. The ambience will build the anticipation, and then when a pan flute plays a dissonant series of notes on top of it... nothing quite like it. Or silence being interrupted by a shamisen, slowly plucking its strings to build the tension even more... only to be released when the ambience explodes into a massive swell. Fantastic, every time.

The first side of the LP is the decidedly more musical of the two. This is where most of the Japanese music will come from. This is where the themes of the game are laid out bare for all to see before the dark ambience takes over.

The second side puts melody and instruments to the way side. Instead the album takes a decidedly dark turn and focuses almost exclusively on dark ambient soundscapes and horror filled sounds. Screams, children laughing, unknown sounds in the distance... they are all represented on the second side. 

To tie things together the album ends with the same children playing as it starts with. It's a great call back to the start of the album and wraps the whole thing up nicely. Even though I haven't played the game, this album is works well as a stand alone work. I do have this game on the list of "games to play before I expire" and hopefully this gets me off my lazy ass to play it.

Written February 23rd 2024