The opening and ending themes for Summon Night 2 may be the best of the three original “Summon Night” titles. Though it’s always coming from the same people (Chiaki Fujita composing, Izumi Kato performing vocals), something just seemed to click with these two songs, moreso than other singles from this group.
“Capital of Light” is a peppy, upbeat song running at a medium tempo. It features a lot of interesting percussion and completely artificial synthesizers. The melody is quite memorable, especially since it uses one of the best chord progressions in the history of the world (IV V I with a bass climbing the scale), then ascends even further using secondary dominants at certain parts of the song. Very powerful for a J-pop song, indeed.
“We Were Born ~Find a Way~” impresses me even more. The Celtic-style violin performances are reminiscent of Yasunori Mitsuda’s work on Xenogears, and the subtle, breathy vocals showcase Izumi Kato at her absolute best. Fujita really pulls out all the stops with world/ethnic instrumentation by also using tabla drums. This song is beautiful, and even more memorable than the opening theme.
Now, both of these songs are available in a full length disc entitled “Summon Night Soundtrack,” a great compilation album including all the opening/ending themes from Summon Night 1~3, as well as some decent instrumental tracks. It’s something to consider; but if you just want the cream of the crop, I recommend this single to the VGM collectors looking for excellent vocal tracks.
