This week’s music selection was written for Erik Loyer’s top-selling interactive art app “Strange Rain” — a blend of atmospheric simulation and interactive fiction. It’s a mesmerizing experience with unexpected depth, and a little hard to describe. Check out the app’s web page for a cool demonstration.

The music (of which mine was one of three options) advances in short phrases as the user interacts with the rainy sky, thus requiring a modular form that can pause at any time. I’ve compiled all the segments here to create a single piece.

In Escaping Wonderland the player spends a good portion of the game underground. Gradually their ascent brings them to the surface, as they arrive a sunny and picturesque village. This atmospheric cue is meant to convey the change of mood and scenery.

Click below to play in your browser, or follow the links to play on Spotify or Apple Music.

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.

Click below to play in your browser, or amble over to Spotify or Apple Music.

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.

Click below to play… or click a link to jump to Spotify or Apple Music.

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.

Click below to play… or click a link to jump to Spotify or Apple Music.

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.

In the game Escaping Wonderland, the player needs to negotiate with several teen mice who have adopted a rather risk-indifferent lifestyle. (The visualization of which is rather amusing; play the game if you’d like to experience it firsthand!)

This week’s music accompanies the mice with a dark carnival tune, emphasizing the comedic side of an incautious lifestyle.

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