In Square Enix Chill Out Arrangement Tracks – Around 80’s Mix, Square Enix answers the question, “What if lofi hip hop radio beats to relax/study to featured music from our earliest NES and Game Boy RPGs?” Specifically, six games get represented across this album: the first two Final Fantasy games, the first Seiken Densetsu game (aka Final Fantasy Adventure), and the Game Boy SaGa trilogy (aka Final Fantasy Legend trilogy).
While I was disappointed to see Final Fantasy III missing from this collection, the payoff is that we get to hear arrangements of some lesser-heard tracks from these other six games. It is a boon, to be sure.
That said, not every track in this collection is a deep cut. Even so, the style of these arrangements allows for whole new and interesting elements that change the feel of even the most famous melodies. To that end, I call your attention to track 10, the famous “Prelude” from the original Final Fantasy (that has since worked its way into most entries in the series). This arrangement, by New Zealand-based artist Lord Echo, brings an entirely new approach.
(As an aside, I will once again thank Square Enix for including liner notes in English. Understanding Lord Echo’s arrangement, alongside many other artists on this collection, comes primarily from the insights found in these liner notes!)
Lord Echo starts up with some sustained synth pads and light percussion. The two-chord vamp from the tonic major down to its relative minor (typically, C major to A minor), at a half-time tempo with slow triplets on the drums, and without any of the arpeggiation, feels downright foreign. But it’s all done with intention. Lord Echo cites inspiration from Angelo Badalamenti, the composer who worked with David Lynch on many projects, including the opening theme to the TV show Twin Peaks. In this piece, one can now hear the distinct connection between that series’ opening and the Final Fantasy “Prelude.” When the arpeggios do finally arrive, they feel like a vocalist waiting in the wings while the band starts a groove, then making a clever delayed entrance to build anticipation.
This single track brought new life to a song that has, frankly, been arranged to death over the past 35 years. If the other 14 tracks on this album sustained this level of high-concept arrangement, it would be one of the best arranged albums Square Enix ever produced.
Not every piece is this exceptional, however. None of the tracks feel like phoned-in lo-fi arrangements, so that’s great news. But even with good attention to detail, some pieces do not feel as transformative as what Lord Echo did with the “Prelude.” For example, Christian Gulino’s arrangement of “Enraged Battle” (boss/final battle music) from The Final Fantasy Legend maintains the key elements of this classic Uematsu battle theme. And, yes, there is a groovy bass line that’s new to the scene. Beyond that, it’s an adequate piece of music that neither surpasses nor supplants the original. It’s just something fun and different.
Some of the most interesting arrangements on this album are from Final Fantasy Legend III, composed by Ryuji Sasai and Chihiro Fujioka. Chocoholic’s arrangement of “Exotic Town” definitely brings the lo-fi vibes in full effect: vinyl white noise artifacts, groovy trap set, detuned piano licks, it’s all here. To me, this piece was transformative. Also noteworthy is the surprisingly short arrangement for “Deep,” arranged by hip-hop artist Botsu. His comment in the liner notes definitely helped me understand his process:
I’m primarily a rapper, so this was a chance to show my instrumental side. I was able to rediscover the charm of PSG audio, and it was fascinating to consider the limitations of that format while I worked. The end result is a weird kind of beat music that I wouldn’t normally make. It’s like a part of the underwater world from the original song has warped and is taking us on a trip!
I love Botsu’s insights here, but what stood out to me was that he chose to incorporate his own PSG audio. However, I don’t think Botsu limited himself to the Ricoh/Famicom chiptune hardware. The melodic line Botsu highlights throughout this piece almost sounds like something you’d hear in Phantasy Star, so SaGa meets SEGA? I’m here for it!
Perhaps the most impressive piece in terms of production quality is Michinobu Takarada’s arrangement of the classic “Chocobo Theme.” This is a brass-heavy arrangement with some fun voice samples, giving this particular track a Reggae/beach bum vibe. The trombone solo is both simple and slick. Just when I thought I’d had enough chocobo music for a lifetime, Takarada pulls this one out of his hat, and I am thrilled with it!
I’ll end where the album also ends: “The Royal Palace” from Final Fantasy Adventure. Arranged by DJ Synthesizer, this arrangement takes some surprising twists and turns, but at such a slow pace that you can brace yourself for some of the change-ups in the introductory minute. This is another solid “lo-fi chill beats” arrangement, with a nice mix of sampled audio and newly-recorded instrumental performance.
While this isn’t the greatest arranged album we’ve seen from Square Enix in the past decade, it is absolutely solid. Don’t let your inner cynic stop you from enjoying this one. Just because lo-fi study beats are trendy (and certainly were super trendy in 2020 during the pandemic!) doesn’t mean this was a hastily thrown together project to cash in on a fad. It’s been five years since the album dropped, and I’m still enjoying it. I think, especially for fans of these early Square titles, it’s quite the musical treat!
