A bit ahead of season, this week’s music selection is the first of the winter cues from Dice Legacy. In contrast to the balmy and expansive summer cues, these are tense, static, and mournful. Each piece tries to evoke a sense of winter through different musical means.

In this week’s selection, I used a solo flute to personify the icy winds. Subsequent horn and string interludes suggest the villagers’ determination as they hunker down for what’s to come.

Play this cue below, or check out the entire game soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, or YouTube!

I’m back from an August journey to NYC and the UK — where I experienced the creative tumult of the Edinburgh Fringe — and am pleased to resume this blog/mailing list/music-sharing tradition!

Speaking of things summer-related, this week’s selection is the final summer music from the game Dice Legacy. Nyckelharpa specialist Mats Wester reprises the score’s first fair-weather theme as a pensive duet with guitar.

This atmospheric music from the Dice Legacy score takes a turn for the endearingly comedic. Whereas the prior cue portrayed the villagers as craftspeople, this cue conveys the casual aspects of everyday life: being at ease at a tavern or gossiping during a midday break. In more musical terms, solo woodwinds play languid modal melodies over an easygoing string waltz.

Play this cue below, or check out the entire game soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, or YouTube!

Each of the summer cues in the Dice Legacy score focuses on an aspect of village life, suggesting some of the daily activity going on below the game’s bird’s-eye view. Here I used hammered dulcimer and bowed nyckelharpa (played by the very talented Mats Wester) to evoke the bustle of crafting activities.

Play this cue below, or check out the entire game soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, or YouTube!

Of the music cues in Dice Legacy, this week’s was most inspired by the game’s distinctive visuals. It’s also one of several cues featuring recording artist Eurielle, whose lovely atmospheric vocals complement the music’s orchestral textures and soloists.

Play the cue below, or check out the entire game soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, or YouTube!

The Dice Legacy score evokes a few things: wonderment at the world’s striking visuals, a vague moody desolation, and the bustle of village life. As the title suggests, this week’s music selection focuses mostly on the latter. The raw and expressive sound of the Swedish nyckelharpa once again comes to us courtesy of Mats Wester.

Play the cue below, or check out the entire game soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, or YouTube!

Dice Legacy is a strategy game, but one with an underlying story: the tale of settlers in a hostile new land. The ambient music often focuses on different elements of the protagonists’ experience. This week’s cue evokes the hopes and dreams of those trying to make a fresh start.

In related news, I was recently interviewed about this very score on Music Respawn, produced for NPR station WSHU Public Radio. If inclined, take a listen here!