ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 'The Feather's Reflection'
- Game: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo, 1993, GB)
- ReMixer(s): Rexy
- Composer(s): Kazumi Totaka, Koji Kondo, Kozue Ishikawa, Minako Hamano
- Song(s): 'Eagle's Tower'
- Posted: 2011-12-15, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: Threshold of a Dream
Rexy sends in her dark solo piano arrangement from an equally dark album:
"This is my contribution for the recent Zelda project Threshold of a Dream, a piano interpretation for Eagle's Tower. I got involved with the project when Aetherius revived it for phase 2 of its development span back in fall 2005, and unlike most remixers there was something about the genre restrictions that interested me for some reason.
So upon succeeding with the audition, he suggested I have a go at Eagle's Tower, knowing my nature as a player back then. A lot of my isolated feelings still carried over from earlier that year still seemed to transfer over in my playing style, though by some coincidence it also ended up portraying a feeling of looking into a mirror on the hopes of boosting one's ego, but rather seeing a manifestation of yourself back at you - kind of providing a feeling of self-esteem and lack thereof."
Not what I would call light listening - some solo piano arrangements are mellow, some are beautiful, some are jazzy, but relatively few are dark & cloudy, which is how I'd describe the general vibe here. Overcast, even. Which is completely appropriate for the album and jives with Bev's comments, just don't come in expecting toe-tapping or daydreaming... this is more in the introspective category, perhaps even cross-filed under "going quietly insane" ;) Deia weighs in:
"This is pretty cool, and you've done a lot of good work with a strange source. The title is pretty apt, this has a sort of reflective, mysterious feel to it, which is a lot of fun to listen to. I'd say that this does run a little long, but it still does manage to stay pretty varied throughout, and the source connection is there."
I concur that 5+ minutes may have stretched things a hair, but it's not egregious. halc adds:
"I'm not a huge solo piano buff, but this was arguably one of my favorites tracks off Threshold, and one of the most nostalgic of the bunch imo. very moody, reflective arrangement. nice stuff."
The piece speaks representatively for the album, which was itself moody and reflective, and I think it also speaks well for how Rexy's solo piano skills have improved - a long time ago there were some issues with her timing sounding quantized or mechanical, but this mix has very human, emotive dynamics that make it work. Pensive, foreboding stuff from Rexy that contributed to the overall concept for Threshold.
The response does indeed feel mostly positive, and I do sense both Brandon and Palpable noticing the tail of the piano texture used. This actually came from my attempts to add as much "realism" to the old sample bank that I used back in my student days, which meant having to tweak some of the envelopes on the patches that I had to work with including the attack and decay.
Yes, you read it - STUDENT DAYS. Believe it or not, this particular recording was established back in May of 2006 (yes, this take is nearly [i]six years old![/i]), when I had been working on the arrangement on and off during that year. This may explain some of my unhappiness with my life at the time really being channeled into the performance, fitting in with Aetherius's vision ridiculously well.
And so when I saw him dropping the project a year later, I felt extremely disappointed at what happened, not just with the project but the fact that I felt as if I was merely on projects that were going nowhere no matter how much effort I placed in them. Over time my attachment to the track was lost, but thanks to prophetik's dedication in getting it finished through phase 3 (and with then being when I FINALLY settled on a name for this thing) and getting the album unleashed upon the world, the amount of pride I had in putting it down was steadily built back up, and was soon reflected on the faint but positive user feedback from it upon the album's release.
It's a shame that I had lost the sample bank as I had been told for years that I couldn't emulate the same performance success that I had with "Tomorrow's Wake" (namely from Larry in-between talk segments on VG Frequency back in the day), and having discovered it it's all too late as I had moved onto a completely different set of gear, but I'm now game to learn with what I have now and see what I can do in what seems to be a more positive environment than years gone by. Hopefully this will be the start of a more positive comeback and not being over-confident in my abilities (when really these days, confidence in submissions tend to be lacking).
Long ramble over, but you get the picture :wink: Once again, a big thanks for the responses, and I hope to push things through for the future!
- Rexy on December 29, 2011
The lead parts are filled with soul, giving a feeling of loss and deep sadness to an almost angry extent.
At about 0:55 things get a bit more technical and the piece goes head first into a slump of depression.
I won't lie. I've listened to this piece when I've felt angry at the world. It helps a tonne.
2:39 brings with it a deeper sense of anger and sadness.
I can't help but picture a man sitting over his piano playing this while the tears drip from his eyes.
Maybe I'm just over imaginative. Haha
Either way, great piece to disregard the police to.
- Tuberz McGee on December 25, 2011
A nice piano rendition by Rexy, the thing she is known for the most. 1:28 brings in more of the source. 2:28 shows another part of the main rhythm. The track continues to build and expand into something more awesome and more beautiful, just like withMario’s Hazy Beach Holiday. It slows down at 4:03 or so. It goes back to basics at about 4:40.
Slightly outdated review from the album review. STILL COUNTS!
- Mirby on December 23, 2011
- WesternZypher on December 16, 2011
- Crulex on December 16, 2011
Nice stuff, Rexi. :-)
- OA on December 16, 2011
- Bahamut on December 15, 2011
so good!
- chthonic on December 15, 2011
So this is another incredible solo piano performance from Rexy. Piano like this would fit awesomely upon a death metal record from the mid-90s. It actually somewhat reminds me of Silhouette from Opeth's first CD. Another great performance full of ideas, flowing from one to the next. The movement at 2:38 was definitely a highlight with the staccato notes. I think the higher chords are used very well throughout this piece. There's some odd timing in the left hand at points but it isn't a dealbreaker. There's a bit of a late reflection on the reverb, which may have been a style choice -- it's a little too noticeable I think, but also not a dealbreaker. I think this is Rexy's strongest posted mix to date. :-)
- Brandon Strader on December 15, 2011
Awesome work. :D
- TheGuitahHeroe on December 15, 2011