Lena Raine Talks About Composing the Score for Harmony: The Fall of Reverie
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is an upcoming narrative adventure game by Dontnod. It tells the story of a young woman returning to her hometown to investigate the disappearance of her mother – and is accompanied by a beautiful score composed by Lena Raine.
Raine is well-known for her work on Celeste and Chicory: A Colorful Tale, and she has once again impressed with her work on Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. Her music is both evocative and full of wistful melodies, and sets the perfect tone for the game.
In an interview, Raine discussed her approach to composing the score for Harmony, including her use of musical metaphor, her differentiation between the music of Reverie and the real world, and the challenges she faced in composing the music for the game.
The Musical World of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie
As soon as Raine began writing for Harmony, she knew she wanted to take it in the direction of analogue and digital sounds. This meant lots of synthesisers, processing, and saturation, with a limit on the number of real instruments to fully craft the game’s aesthetic.
Differentiating Between the Music of Reverie and the Real World
Raine is a big fan of musical metaphor and immediately set the ground rule for herself that physical instruments weren’t allowed in Reverie. She only used synthesisers and sounds that evoked real instruments. Because both Reverie and Brittle exist in lockstep, it was important that they both feel related but distinct. You can even hear this happen in the second animated cutscene, where Polly enters Reverie.
Separate Themes for Each of the Aspiration Characters
The Aspirations were some of the very first sketches done for the game. Each one was a sort of “pop single” that epitomised their influence. Raine used classic retro chip sounds, jazz fusion, and synthesised sounds to capture the essence of the characters.
Composing the Music for the Game
Raine wanted to score entire scenes with dynamic layers, meaningfully dynamic tracks that could play out over longer periods of time but change in ways that feel tangible and rewarding. This was a challenge, especially with the branching and variable nature of the game.
Raine’s Sound/Compositional Style
Raine’s background as a vocalist and singing virtually everything to herself before she put the first note down on the computer has made melody a big part of how she relates to music. She deliberately only includes the melody in the first loop of many of the themes as Harmony has voice acting and she wanted to make sure the music gets out of the way when it needs to.
Differences in Instrumentation
Limitations are one of the most meaningful choices you can make in scoring a game. Raine gave herself a palette of classic synthesisers and warm analogue sounds that very quickly turned into a parallel portrayal of Reverie (synthesised sounds that reflect physical ones) and Brittle (physical instruments that reflect synthesised ones).
Raine’s Playful Yet Tense Sound
Raine’s work is often characterised by a sense of playfulness surrounded by anxiety and melancholy. This core of her work comes from what she draws to in a game. She still pushes herself to compose in different and varied aesthetics, but this core is what makes Raine’s work so recognizable.