Hey! Listen! Scarlet Moon Records’ prolific jazz duo GENTLE LOVE is back with their first-ever all-Zelda album, Prescription for Sleep: Ocarina of Time. GENTLE LOVE is saxophonist Norihiko Hibino (composer on much of the Metal Gear Solid series) and pianist AYAKI (who has performed on series like Etrian Odyssey, Persona Q, and Streets of Rage), here celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda—and what better choice to send up than Koji Kondo’s iconic Ocarina of Time score?
By now, older Zelda songs are the jazz standards of videogame music. We know all the melodies, but I still delight in hearing different artists’ spins on them. What I love about Prescription for Sleep: Ocarina of Time is the way each track has a broad four to seven minutes for soloing and calm sonic exploration. You could use them as lullabies and sleep to the familiarity of them, but you could just as soon marvel at the thoughtful ways piano and sax complement each other and tug the song back to the iconic melodies.
Opening “Title Theme” begins tentatively with AYAKI’s piano almost playing that iconic line forever paired in players’ minds with Link riding Epona over the crest of a hill at dawn. Hibino’s sax comes in with the melody usually handled by the ocarina. After running through the 90-second opening, both players begin to unravel the melody and put a soulful spin on it. AYAKI does a great job keeping rhythm with the core melody at arm’s length, as well as providing reprieve after Hibino lays down a sultry, emotional solo.
The rawness of the recordings surprised me. There’s a wonderful juxtaposition between how skillfully these two are playing and with the gentle click and rattle of the saxophone and piano, or the sharp intake of Hibino’s breath on especially taxing solos, like in the earlier half of “Kokiri Forest.” One can imagine sitting in a dim bar full of Gorons, Hylians, and Zora, a jar of milk in hand, watching these two lay their soul bare in the stage’s flickering torchlight.
“Battle,” not often a part of Ocarina of Time tribute albums for its relative simplicity—a snare roll building into a farty horn melody—here becomes a playful, Pink Pantheresque jaunt. It’s so indistinguishable as to essentially be an original track. “Hyrule Field Main Theme” is, by comparison, much more instantly recognizable, blending warm sax melody with jazzy piano arpeggios that evoke Peanuts in the best way.
“Zelda’s Lullaby” is gorgeous as always, and epitomizes the eponymous Prescriptions for Sleep moniker, taking things slow and smoky. GENTLE LOVE pass the spotlight back and forth wonderfully on this track. On “LonLon Ranch ~ Epona,” AYAKI opens things with a nod to “Gymnopédies No. 1,” setting the pace for what becomes the longest track on the album at seven minutes. The original is one of my favourites, pastoral and nostalgically melancholy. Here, the energy ramps up throughout, exploring the simple melody with a variety of volume, force, and pizazz.
I’ve always found “Kakariko Village” to be bittersweet, which the opening minutes of this version capture well. The piano then takes things half-time and wows with a chilled yet blazing solo.
The next group of tracks shares a similar goal: to buttress an iconic melody while staying in sonic range. “Lost Woods” has a simple yet infectious melody, one of The Legend of Zelda series’ most iconic, here played around so as to fluff up the original’s power. Similarly, the way “Great Fairy’s Fountain” is built up is almost reverential, so when the sax takes it on, it’s pure bliss.
The handful of notes that make up the unforgettable “Temple of Time” is cast into a playful seven-minute romp. “Requiem of Spirit,” hardly more than a jingle in Ocarina of Time, becomes a call-and-response jazz conversation akin to Miles Davis’ “So What.” Pound for pound, Prescription for Sleep: Ocarina of Time is about 25% Zelda, 75% GENTLE LOVE dressing Zelda up in new clothes and taking it for a walk on the town, all while treating fan-favourite melodies with the utmost respect and giving them the utmost skillful playing.
Finally, closer “Remembrance (Original)” is a fully original composition, as the title suggests. The magic here is that this track sounds more Ocarina of Time than almost any other track. GENTLE LOVE perfectly encapsulates the many rises and falls of the sun across Hyrule Field; the smashed pots with their glittering rupees; the Master Sword sealed away in a lonely temple for years and years, waiting for the hands of a hero.
Were it not for AYAKI’s seemingly effortless command of rhythm, Norihiko Hibino’s passionate solos might be too fiery for the album’s sleepy title. As it is, however, Prescriptions for Sleep: Ocarina of Time is a fantastic album that pedestals the timelessness of Koji Kondo’s compositions.
My favourite tracks include “Zelda’s Lullaby,” “Great Fairy’s Fountain,” and “Remembrance (Original).”
