Kingdom Hearts "The Castle Whispers" 2:59

VGM CON's been extremely fun, and thank you to everyone who came out for our 25th anniversary panel, not to mention the good vibes (and Da Bomb hot sauce, argh) received at the Dwelling of Duels panel! I'll run down just how many OC ReMixers I got to see when I get back home after day 3, but we've gotta keep the great music flowing! Lucas Guimaraes just had his ambitious Super Paper Mario DoD collab featured, but since he's here at VGM CON, I wanted to show some more love and next feature the wind quartet he helped bring together, Whispy Woodwinds, with their chamber rendition of some o' dat gooooood Yoko Shimomura stuffs, "Hollow Bastion" from the original Kingdom Hearts!

• Arrangement, Mixing & Master: Lucas Guimaraes
• Bassoon, Editing: Andrew Gossett
• Flute: Gamer of the Winds
• Alto Sax, Clarinet: Steven Higbee

I've only very briefly caught Andrew Gossett at VGM CON, which makes total sense, because bro's been a busy bee, but props in particular for the live performance that he put on with Justin Thornburgh and Roland N. Laracuente Martínez as Composite. I didn't get to witness it myself, but the word got around on how strong the show was, so I hope there's some footage I can eventually see! Whispy Woodwinds arranger Lucas detailed his recent road culminating in this coming together:

"Wow, it's a been a bit. This is our third track since our initial debut as a band (our first being "Parasol to the Stars" and our second being "Arle's Theme"), and it's far from our last. I'll give a brief rundown of what's happened since.

So we had our first performance at VGM CON - It wasn't as tight as it could've been, as we had a few issues. We regrouped and decided that with increased obligations in other places, it'd be better for me to hand my performing duties off. We also decided that an alto sax would be more fitting and less honky in the ensemble. I'm pretty happy with both of these choices, as it's allowed me to put in more energy towards arranging and production while I'm able to work on Lucas Guimaraes & The Dunites (more stuff to come from us... soon) and other projects more.

This arrangement was originally intended for March Caprice last year, but life had other plans. I was increasingly busy for the first quarter of last year, promptly burning out after that. So I've had this arrangement for well over a year (we even performed it at VGM CON 24), but we were kind of sitting on it. I spent a lot of last year really reflecting on who I am and going on an entire quest of self. Talk with anyone who knew how many projects I had going on: it was far too many.

One year later and almost out of burnout, David Russell convinced me to sign up for this year's March Caprice. I decided to go back into this. I kept trying to fiddle with the arrangement, but then I noticed a funny thing: when I'm on the edge of burnout, that's when I tend to put out some of my best stuff but hate it the most. I actually fell in love with this arrangement all over again. Once I got the recordings in, I knew I had gold. This is the first mix for the band I've done and been REALLY proud of.

Oh, right, I guess I'm supposed to talk about the song. I tried to get a story in. I knew towards the very end I wanted that sax solo, which initially was whistling. Everyone got distracted from it in rehearsal, so we changed it to sax. I learned so much from having the experience of having my arrangements played live, both here and with Dunites. With the ending, I was really going for an isolated feel, as "Hollow Bastion" is pretty much the climax of Kingdom Hearts where there's a lot of themes on loneliness. I also wanted it to be very floaty like the original track, but not too floaty. One thing I was worried was that it was becoming too repetitive, as I didn't have a lot of deviations into original material, but I focused on making each of the repetitions as fresh as I could.

Performances? Knocked it out of the park. I think it's leagues above our past two recordings. Everyone brought their A-game. Mixing it was a bit challenging, as I really wanted to push myself for a mix that knocked it out of the park. Something that has personality while still sticking true to the conventions of chamber mixing. I think I've managed to nail that sweet spot.

Hope you all enjoy. :)"

I'd agree that the sweet spot was hit, with fun performances and solid teamwork between all of the parts for a very enjoyable, intimate ensemble! Now, as a proud semi-old, I wanna praise Lucas on a couple things: the self-awareness to regroup from burnout and the willingness to step back as a performer to ensure Whispy Woodwinds continued rolling out music, even if that meant "just" being an arranger. Both self-awareness and the ability to ask yourself (& others) difficult questions are so critical to enjoying the life we get, so I'm glad he's flexing those adulting muscles, especially because the end result of this right here's a beauty. :-D Since I'm not a musician, I'm not as analytical and attuned to pick up on things, but when Lucas mentioned not wanting this to feel repetitive despite not a lot of melodic deviation, it dawned on me just how well Whispy Woodwinds pulled this piece off. Of course, that dynamic wasn't lost on judge prophetik music:

"from an execution standpoint, the arrangement is overall really solid. i appreciated the contextual changes between the articulated elements and the more sustained sections. there's enough repetition of concepts to hold onto without being overly repetitive, and there's a nice payoff at 2:09 with the chorale [...]

i think this is definitely a good representation of the medium and the original. performance is pretty good considering it wasn't done in-person and the arrangement has a lot of good contrast. nice work."

Co-signed; the variations through instrumentation shifts and their intrinsic textural changes as well as the natural live performance dynamics of recording each part all stacked together to keep the presentation interesting. For fellow judge Emunator, everything about the approach fell into place:

"This source material adapts PERFECTLY to this small ensemble format, which allows both the rhythmic and melodic elements of Hollow Bastion to shine equally. The performances are tight, the mixing gives it a lush sense of space while still retaining a feeling of intimacy."

Folks, this one's a no-brainer, let's go. :-) Enjoy this earnest rendition of a beloved theme bouyed by Whispy Woodwinds' intricate instrument interplay!