ReMix:Undertale "You Can Always Come Back Here" 3:17

The astronomical end of summer is in about six weeks, and the meteorological end of it is in about three, but let's be 100% real... once school's back in session, the summer... "vacation" summer... "we're chillin'" summer, is O-V-A-H "ovah". :'-( As we tie a bow around the season, and kiddos young & old trickle back into classrooms, judge Hemophiliac had the brilliant idea of posting Emunator and Hotline Sehwani's recent team-up, their wistful lo-fi windup of Toby Fox's legendary theme to Undertale! After making a life-altering, grown-up decision for his career, Emunator then tapped into a reservoir of childlike innocence to shape this piece:

"In December of 2023, I spontaneously left my career job of 10+ years, intending to take a long break to recover from burnout and figure out what I was meant to do with my life. When I came home after my last day of work, I made it all of 30 minutes before I got bored and decided I needed something to do. I booted up FL Studio and started working on what would become the first single to my debut commercial arrangement album. The project would come together over the next 3 months, and it became abundantly clear that I had figured out what I should really be doing with my life. It's out now on all streaming platforms, as well as vinyl/CD/cassette tape through Curaga Records. The album is a collaborative effort between myself and the diversely-talented musical wizard, grillmaster, and all-around cool dude Hotline Sehwani, arranging 10 songs from Undertale in a nostalgic, lo-fi-inspired style. I'm extraordinarily proud of the work we did together and am so excited to share what I've been working on in the background!

This arrangement is a more ambient, scrapbook-style variation on the opening song from that project, and uses a mix of stems from the official release and some new improvisations I recorded on piano and synths to accompany it. My goal was to not overthink anything, and just let the ideas flow. I drew heavy influence from Skrypnyk's original album Suburbia, specifically the penultimate song "A Moment of Tolerance". It's been a staple of my listening rotation for the better part of 2 decades now, and captures a feeling of melancholy, nostalgia, and optimism that I have yet to hear replicated. Hopefully, I got somewhere in that ballpark here!

The original vision in my head when arranging this track was this: you wake up from a nap, you feel grass beneath your back, and the sun is beaming down on you. Suddenly, you're a kid again. You're at the park with your friends on a carefree summer day, and whatever stress and complexities that once occupied your over-burdened adult mind are gone. You're free to play, daydream, and truly live in the moment. We spend so much of our adult lives romanticizing this feeling, so I made this song to remind myself that you can always find your way back there again."

Judge prophetik music wasn't the target demo for laid back lo-fi, yet it hit his optimistic centers just the same:

"opens with some very light washes of sound and some sfx. the build eventually includes some understated bass, piano, acoustic guitar strums, and percussive elements. the original's fairly repetitive, and overall this rendition keeps some of those repetitive elements and just slows them down some. there's a light wobble on most of the instruments used, and overall it's a very cozy sound, lots of autumnal warmth represented. there's an extended outro and it's done.

this is a style that i don't go for at all, in general, but what's done here is a consistent representation of the original in a new feel that somehow also doesn't lose the hopeful vibe that permeates the OST track."

I'm a proud man-child myself, so I live for moments of feeling like a kid again, but let's not overlook how impeccably mixed this innocent arrangement is, not that judge Chimpazilla would allow that to happen:

"This is luscious and super well produced. I love the lo-fi feel and all the flutter and wow. You completely nailed the vibe you were going for: slow and lazy, relaxed, meditative, playful, hopeful, nostalgic. Love it, nice work."

I absolutely hear the Skrypnyk influence, not just in the music, but in the effects and audio sampling of the kiddos playing and yelling at one another. There's absolutely nothing that can't be brightened in your day by putting this piece on repeat. A classy, mellow mood that breathes, clicks, ebbs, and flows; thank you to Emu and Hotline for paving a musical path toward simpler times. Indeed, even though you can't stay forever, you can always come back here. :-)