MIDI Week Singles: "ZX Spectrum: Western Trot" - Super Life of Pixel (NS)

 

"ZX Spectrum: Western Trot"* from Super Life of Pixel on Windows, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, & Nintendo Switch (2018)
Composer: Ashton Morris
Album: Life of Pixel Original Soundtrack
Label: Steam
Publisher: White Moon Dreams, Inc.
Developer: Super Icon Ltd.

I had first planned on writing about the music from Super Life of Pixel six and a half years ago when I reviewed the game for #IndieSelect, but I couldn't find a source for the soundtrack that didn't require me to buy the game off Steam.  Sadly, the most readily available way to buy the soundtrack is still off Steam.  Now that The Squire has gotten into playing the game, I thought it was the right time to revisit this soundtrack, specifically, both mine and The Squire's favorite song (he told me this independently of my influence), "Western Trot" by Ashton Morris.

"Western Trot" is specifically just that.  It's a quick 4/4 with two eighth notes on beat two and quarter notes on the rest, that somewhat mimics the trotting of a horse.  The instrumentation here, while reminiscent of the ZX Spectrum sound chip, which offers gargling-sounding tones, fits in really well with the Western aesthetic, picturing a brightly colored, bustling town with a stranger riding in on a trotting horse.  I don't know, it just works and I love how catchy the whole song is, especially when the main theme comes back with more backing tracks than I think were available on the original ZX Spectrum at the time.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Said into that Great Void, My Soul be Hurled

*P.S.  The other thing I wanted to mention is that on the official soundtrack, this song is listed simply as "ZX Spectrum," because those are the levels where this song plays.  However, in-game, when you select the ZX Spectrum, at the top of the screen, there's text that reads: "Chip Tune Radio. . . "Western Trot" by Ashton Morris.  So "Western Trot" is clearly the name of the song, written and titled by Ashton Morris, but on the soundtrack, only the system is used for the title for whatever reason.  So, as a compromise, I've decided to use both.