Star Fox Adventures "Hollow Nights"

HAPPY 33rd ANNIVERSARY to the Star Fox series! To celebrate, we've got our 81st arrangement album, Star Fox: Double Wing Damage! Captained by OCR album veteran Darkflamewolf, it's 30 tracks by 37 artists covering 6 games for 2+ hours celebrating Nintendo's space-faring franchise! DFW didn't know they were gonna helm this one, but when the radio call went out -- "Come in, Corneria!" -- they sprung into action:

"Let's just say this was an unexpected album directing job! I thought I was finished after reviving and finishing the Final Fantasy 8 album. However, a good gathering of ReMixers on that album started pitching the idea (was first a joke, but soon became serious) that I should also revive and finish the Star Fox album that was started but never finished 2+ decades ago in 2003! We've gone this long and the OverClocked ReMix community still hadn't produced a Star Fox album! I had a good working rapport with quite a few ReMixers by this point after 3 albums directed, and many were encouraging me to helm the job. After much consideration (and inner turmoil), I agreed to take the role and bring Fox McCloud home.

My vision was simple - a 2-disc venture where one was high-octane beats that was everything the original tracks were, but more. The other was focused on expanding the soundscape and trying new things with the source material. In the end, this worked out amazingly well and people gravitated towards the dual-themed concept. My goal was set for about a year to complete and finalize all tracks, but real life (as it does) got in the way and forced another six-month extension to the deadline. It wasn't ideal, but we kept plugging along until we got the last stragglers in. Overall, I'm very happy with the timeline - it took significantly far less time to pull together 30 tracks than it did for my first album of 36 tracks!

As for the music itself - I won't put forward that I have a favorite among the albums I've directed, but what I can say is that this is an extremely strong album in terms of content, quality, and variety. I'm extremely proud to have been a part of this album and finally getting it across the finish line. Thanks to every person who believed in me as director. It's why I keep doing these things! As for you, the listener, I truly hope you enjoy the soundscape we have curated for you for the next 2+ hours! It was made with you in mind!"

Congrats to DFW on their fourth OCR album project seeing the light of day, and kudos to a cool format, i.e. more straightforward arranging for one disc and more transformative for another. On the featured mixpost level, we're honored to actually debut the album by spotlighting -- by DFW's request -- its closing track, a lush, cinematic interpretation of Star Fox Adventures' "ThornTail Hollow" headed up by Emunator alongside ZackParrish and several of the VGM arrangement scene's most talented live performers:

• Emunator: arrangement, piano, vocals, flute (bird calls), programming, mixing
• ZackParrish: acoustic guitar, additional arrangement
• Gamer of the Winds: recorder, pan flute, alto flute
• Shea's Violin: violin
• Chromatic Apparatus: cello

Though Emunator originally slammed into creative blockers while working on this, he explained how a different method of focus led to his concept finally soaring the stars:

"This song is a companion piece to Zack's arrangement of the "ThornTail Hollow (Day)" theme and was originally submitted as a 10-minute suite for Dwelling of Duels' November 2024 competition. In retrospect, this stands as perhaps my favorite game arrangement I've ever made, and it took me a LONG time to get it there. I've been attempting to remix "ThornTail Hollow (Night)" since the early 2010s, but never achieved much success. This was a case where my musical ability and collaborator network needed to catch up to my ambition. Even after I had a promising start on this arrangement, it took the better part of a year to really get anywhere, to the point where I considered pulling out of the Star Fox album because I didn't think I'd be able to deliver. I had the first few minutes down, as well as the ending, but bridging those gaps in a satisfying way felt beyond my reach.

What finally allowed me to unlock this track's potential was trying a brand new approach to arranging - sitting down at an acoustic piano, far away from my computer, where the only thing I could focus on was the actual songwriting, and not be tempted to try and produce or sound design my way out of an arrangement that was not where it needed to be. This experimentation led me to explore some transitional key changes that tapped into some strong Joe Hisaishi/Princess Mononoke vibes that proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle. I even worked in a cameo reference to "Ashitaka and San" in the final chorus. Once I got that locked, it all came together... with a little help from some friends. <3

I'll let this speak for itself beyond that, but I'm beyond grateful for the contributions from the team that helped me get this where it needed to be. Y'all are the best."

You know, I guess this piece does speak for itself, because all five musicians here weave a breathtaking ThornTail tapestry! Still, we've gotta get a word in from judge Joe "XPRTNovice" Zieja; he previously voiced Fox McCloud in the Star Fox: The Battle Begins animated short, so any time he favorably chimes in on a Star Fox arrangement, it's got that extra-special endorsement:

"This is outstanding. The arrangement is beautiful, the instrumentation is great, the performances are spot on. Production is on point across the board. The mix sounds incredibly full. I have goosebumps. [...]

The moment at 3:46 was *absolutely majestic*. The climax of the piece had just these beautiful luscious harmonies all working together. I got a little teary eyed here and I have literally no soul."

Man, if that's the intergalactic level of greatness of Double Wing Damage's final track, you'd be absolutely insane to skip out on the rest of this album. Whether you're looking for high-energy spacefaring EDM or more interstellar interpretation, hop into the Arwing, try all 30 arrangements from Star Fox: Double Wing Damage on for size, and get ready to barrel roll over the creativity the community has to offer!