ReMix:Final Fantasy VIII "Deling City Nights" 2:25

From the unique to the unique, our next featured SeeDs of Pandora ReMix from Lucas Guimaraes is a jazz club-ready bebop arrangement of... [/checks notes] "Galbadia Garden"?!? Our arranger & players:

• Lucas Guimaraes: arrangement, production, mixing
• Dionté George: saxophone
• dpMusicman: piano
• thebitterroost: drums
• MegadudeXD: additional drums

A creative push to round out the original 4-disc scope of the album led to this one not being overthought and coming together quickly. Album co-director Jorito praised Lucas not just for his surprising arrangement approach, but for Lucas once again demonstrating his knack for live performer recruitment and collaboration:

"This was definitely a last-minute addition to the album. Lucas popped in a few days before the final deadline, with 4 rough MIDI mockups, of which we picked "Galbadia Garden" as a key track that we'd love to have on the album. And because the arrangement was envisioned as a bebop track that also made it interesting, not something you hear every day. I think Lucas managed to wrap up the arrangement, recruit collaborators, and mix it in just two days. The live instruments definitely add a lively vibe to the entire piece, and since it's jazz, it's pretty free-flowing and interpretive with the source material. Definitely a lot more lively than the rather sombre, sinister source material."

Guimaraes noted that this is a slower tempo than a typical bebop track, praised his collaborators' dynamic performances, and put over the fact that he's a dangerous man, since pulled this track together with surprising speed:

"Sometimes, I go into a song having a genre in mind. Other times, I let the song guide me. Since I was on a tight deadline, I let the song guide me. The whole song pointed to jazz. The drums felt like something out of a spy movie. The bass felt like it belonged in a jazz standard. The chords itched for some (minor) reharmonization. I wanted to go short and sweet both to fit the genre and because I've been practicing doing more in less time. Hearing multiple people say they wish this lasted longer felt incredible.

While this is derivative of the source (similar to JohnStacy's "Reflecting Pool", except with the tempo sped up), I wanted to be faithful to both the bebop genre and "Galbadia Garden". It was a hard balance to strike, but I feel subtle nods to the original track the whole way through and lowering the BPM from bebop tracks (bebop is usually 300 BPM+) helped find that compromise. The track also does a good job teasing you for more, while throwing in some amazing musicianship makes for a short and sweet track leaving everyone wanting a little more.

Thanks to Dionté George for contributing an AMAZING saxophone lead, dpMusicman for the wonderful piano that has so many parts that fit well, thebitterroost for doing an amazing job on those drums, and MegadudeXD for some extra drum fills."

The original track is so labored and low-key, it's certainly a head-turner to get from point A to point B and arrive at a jaunty jazz version. All the performances are indeed tasty, and since the ending is sudden and the overall energy is up there, I could easily envision, like Lucas alluded to, people wishing for an even vampier extended cut. If you like (Cowboy?) bebop, you're already sold -- this one's a refreshing and spirited speed-up of a dour FF8 piece that'll make anybody move!