ReMix:ilomilo "Iso ilo" 3:24

Our third selection from Esther's Dreams is our first from the second disc, "Downtime," and also the site's first arrangement of quirky indie puzzler ilomilo, which Eino Keskitalo has gone out of his comfort zone to provide a very transporting, equally eccentric & wonderful vocal ballad arrangement of:

"I'm too tired to type up lyrics (it's all flower names in Finnish)."

Hopefully Eino chimes in on the review thread with more details; Larry and I were both kinda curious about the collab with vocalist Birgitta Susi and how the whole concept came together:

Liontamer - Today at 11:44 AM:
He's Finnish
that explains everything
no talk, just action
no bios, just product
What he sent was literally all I got when I specifically asked him for comments & lyrics :-)

djpretzel - Today at 11:46 AM:
he doesn't talk about the race, he just crosses... the Finnish line

Liontamer - Today at 11:49 AM:
that better be in the writeup

So it is. This game has a very specific, organic, & charming soundtrack and I'm thrilled to see it represented on OCR, and with an arrangement that honors that textural identity while adding something new and highlighting the strength of the underlying melodies. Larry writes:

"After being impressed with Daniel Olsén's work on Device 6 as an IGF audio jurist, it's nice being exposed to another side of it with his soundtrack to ilomilo. I never took Eino to be the type to even craft this type of music, so props to him as well for showcasing a completely different wrinkle in his technique via this wonderful collaboration with Birgitta Susi. I cast the net wide in my callout because I didn't want to wrongly assume any artist couldn't deliver something fitting for a baby-themed project; for any aspiring album directors, Eino's work here alone proves that open-mindedness is the right recruitment approach.

Here, Eino uses "Once Upon" as the arrangement's foundation while working the melody of "Cozy Sofa" on mallet perc as more of a foreground element just behind Birgitta's lovely, maternal style of singing. Maybe one day he'll provide the actual lyrics (or a nice Finnish fan can do the same and translate everything as well? ;-D). In the meantime, it's easy to be drawn into the serenity of this piece."

Everything he said, including the IGF bit, since I was there for that as well :) This ReMix is an unexpected treat, arranging one of the more obscure games in the album's repertoire but a game/soundtrack that absolutely lends itself to the concept & deserves the attention... Eino showed off a totally different side of himself, and a side I'd love to hear more of... can't ask for much more than that! Brilliant work.