This week’s cue is another faction theme from the game Hex: Shards of Fate. This music is for the nefarious Vennen, an orc-spider hybrid race that’s an all-male religious cult to boot. I felt the music needed to be somewhat disquieting and have vaguely mystical overtones, and chose the bass viol (sometimes known as by its more glamorous name, the viola de gamba) as the principal melodic voice. Cymbal scrapes, high violin clusters, and low woodwind trills contribute to the spidery- and/or cult-y mood.

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	The Vennen

From the the film Home Room, a moody piece accompanying a dissolve between two film’s two protagonists (played by Erika Christensen and Busy Phillips, respectively) highlighting the parallels between them. Echoing the visuals, the score is timed so that one melodic statement plays over each character’s respective closeup.

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	Two Girls

This week’s selection is an otherworldly choir of voices for one of the races in Hex: Shards of Fate – in this case, an undead hive mind. (This isn’t one of those cues that you can sing in the shower.)

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	The Necrotic

This dramatic cue from the film Home Room features strings, piano, and one of the signature solo instruments of that score, bass flute.

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	Breakdown

Many fantasy-themed games lovingly pilfer from Tolkien and add orcs to their indigenous species. In Hex: Shards of Fate the orcs are a comparatively benevolent race. (Think new school Klingons rather than old school.) In writing their theme I was careful to balance the sense of martial culture with a heroic undercurrent.

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	Advance of the Orcs

In the movie Siren, a groupie comes a little close for comfort to a married band member. I scored the abortive moment of temptation with ambient electric guitar and vocals, respectively performed by Tom Strahle and Hilary Hearty.

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	With the Band

The next music cue from the Hex series, this week’s selection is both a darker and more energetic take on the traveling/map view visual. The game’s main theme has been transformed into a repeating phrase in the flutes which dances above the slower brass and string statements.

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	The Journey Underway