ReMix:Chrono Cross "Lost Orphan" 5:25

Diggin' it, diggin' it from AzureKevin, who combines two great tastes from Chrono Cross & Chrono Trigger in a relaxed yet proggy rock approach! This piece had a lot to say about Kevin musically, so in turn, Kevin had a lot to say about this piece:

"Like most RPG fans who played games from the 90s, I absolutely adore the Chrono series.

Last year, I decided to experience Chrono Cross again via the new remaster. During my playthrough, a short 6/8 piano idea for the song "Burning Orphanage" popped into my head, and, after playing around with it, I decided to try building it up into a full song.

It eventually evolved into this, what I think would be classed as a kind of haunting prog rock song with piano being the main driver, but also accompanied by the usual fare of rock drums, bass, synth leads, organs, both layered and lead electric guitar parts, strings, and Mellotron choir. Some parts of the song are perhaps faintly influenced by bands like King Crimson, some of Steven Wilson's solo music, as well as stuff by The Black Mages.

Once most of the first half was fleshed out (which was originally just going to be the whole arrangement), I realized one night that I could smoothly transition into the song "Silent Light" from Chrono Trigger, so I incorporated that as a slower second half. Eventually, I figured out a way to transition it back to "Burning Orphanage" with a mellower tone to close out the song.

The progression of the arrangement is recounting Kid's trauma of fighting and surviving Lynx's attack on the orphanage (first half with "Burning Orphanage"), but then wandering alone after her escape (second half with "Silent Light") and eventually finding peace (back to a slower "Burning Orphanage"), but not necessarily closure.

The actual scene from the game is one of the most heartbreaking and climactic events from the whole series, IMO, and I wanted to try giving it even a fraction of justice.

Both songs, I noticed, were very underepresented arrangement-wise, as I don't believe I've ever heard an arrangement of "Burning Orphanage", so I tried my best to create an interesting one!"

Even within games that are heavily covered in this scene of ours, there are good themes in popular game scores that just don't get the time of day. Kudos to Kevin for crafting an arrangement that part-reserved, part-progressive, as well as successfully navigating past the evil judges panel, AND for taking extra time to improve the approved track even further from our feedback. The orphanage may be burning (thanks a ton, Lynx), but it's burning brightly courtesy of AzureKevin, who's got a loopable showcase you won't regret firing up! :-)