Here’s another village music cue from Escaping Wonderland, this one with a lightly playful character.

Mini-editorial: Why did we as a society stop spelling “shoppe” that way? If the answer is efficiency, then why isn’t the second word “puzls”? Feel encouraged to contemplate these questions while you listen.

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I love writing atmospheric village music, which often comes up in games. There’s an opportunity for gentle expressiveness and, depending on the style of the game, an element of melody. This week’s selection is one of three cues for the village biome in Escaping Wonderland. The visuals of said village were partly inspired by those of Kiki’s Delivery Service (my fave Miyazaki film) so there was lots of emotional fuel for the score.

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This cue from the OST of Escaping Wonderland falls into the creepy/disquieting/what’s-that-crawling-on-your-arm school of game underscore. The player, trying to get to the bottom of a time-obsessed cult, approaches the lair of their object of worship.

By the way, if you’ve been listening to these cues on Spotify, please feel encouraged to follow me there! In these modern algorithmic times, small endorsements mean a lot for visibility. (They also give me a warm feeling.)

Here’s my official favorite music cue from the soundtrack for Escaping Wonderland. This music accompanies a game level with some clever time-travel problem solving, and is meant to evoke some of the supernatural flavor of the experience. Call it two-thirds cosmic metaphysical wonderment, one-third disquieting mystery.

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This is my second favorite piece of music from Escaping Wonderland: a mysterious theme for a mouse enchantress. Rather than being a fierce witch, she’s actually quite lovely and helpful, and a concerned mother. The score correspondingly takes on a gentle mystical quality, with hints of 20th century musical Impressionism.

Click below to play… or jump to Spotify or Apple Music.