Hi, welcome to Galeposting with a sound design drop out who never seriously learned composition but can pick up on vibes and has a lot of feelings. I'll be linking to blog posts by composers and every musical piece I talk about.
Gale's introduction music has this instrumentation that feels like the wind, then these mournful swells above it and under it. I'll dig around more but I think the most consistent things in Gale's theme, the Gale-ness of it, is this soft, curious, playful sort of bouncing thing. Some of the more wind-like instrumentation I think is just... the Weave, it goes between comforting and foreboding in every Gale scene. The more sinister and haunting pieces you hear less and less in your romance with Gale (though I think all romance has the same variation to Down by the River to a certain extent - I need to go through all of them to track where it DOES shift- there's a lot of natural sound with Gale for sure and the Act II romance scene has the same sort of playful plodding and adds string, lmk if it's the same in any other act ii romances), so those to me feel decidedly Mystra?
I have a few pieces that I listen to as a sort of IDEA of what Gale's theme would be without the influence of Mystra or his conflicted emotions about the Weave, still a little playful, still deadly curious, and ultimately mournful. Our inescapable sad boy...
The French Library by Franz Gordon jumps around minor chords in a way that threatens to become triumphant or whimsical but ultimately returns to the same melancholic steps, sort of folding in on itself. It sort of reminds me of Mozart's Symphony 40 having a depressive episode instead of a bit of rage.
If you want these things but in a way that feels like a lullaby, a clumsy attempt at comfort, another Gale staple for me right now is Midwayer by Joep Beving. Beving has spoken about his music being a way for him to re-engage with his humanity, which I think you can FEEL on this entire album, but especially here. This quote in particular I really love in thinking about my little Gale playlist-
“We are either trained or we’re designed to respond to particular stimulants. For me it’s rediscovering the human skill in things so for me the message would be we have a common or shared understanding of what it’s like to be human. And we should not lose that connection.”
This brings me to a favorite fictional parallel I've found with Gale - Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. Composer Bear McCreary stayed away from themes in a traditional sense with a focus on music that world builds, establishes stakes/settings, over traditional sci fi theme/motif spamming, HOWEVER, you can track all major players through the show, which includes Gaius... I'm gonna go into these character parallels mostly by digging into the score for Battlestar Galactica below the cut here.
Gaius, a mortal plucked up by a God via a Six Cylon. The Six Cylons were designed for love- in this case, while God's feelings towards Gaius seem ever changing, focused on his PURPOSE over his comfort or happiness or anything else (SOUND FAMILIAR), Caprica Six very genuinely loves Gaius & they get what I think is one of the most beautiful endings in the show (arguably happy, although I don't think "happy" was the goal of any of those endings). Gaius' Folly is instead of loving Caprica as equals he walks right into the hands of the Cylons by handing her his ego instead and giving her access to a defense mainframe for "journalism" (she ended the world, oops). Anyway, in Gaius' pieces, you always have mournful swells, ominous things above and below him, the conflict of a man chosen by God, tortured by God, loved by something and someone who borders the line between a demi god AND is the fruit of man's attempt to play God.
Bear McCreary on the earliest interations of Gaius Baltar's theme, starting properly in season 2 (blog post here):
Dark Unions is on my work-in-progress Gale Dekarios playlist and I didn't realize it until I sat down to try and pull pieces unique to Gale that it is almost, sonically and structurally, a dark echo of how Gale is introduced. If you listen to one into the other with no knowledge of the work they're from, it feels like they could be manifestations of the same piece.
When Gaius Baltar accidentally wields his relationship to God and stumbles into creating a cult (I mean, THE PARALLELS), his theme evolves to a kind of chant, The Cult of Baltar. Bear McCreary describes it as a drone, but the same whimsy and desperation remains. Here's what Bear McCreary has to say about the dichotomy of spiritual, cult leader, hand of God Gaius, sonically and thematically (McCreary's blog post here):
And here is the prayer, translated to Anglo-Saxon, that the cult says to Baltar, and some thoughts about the two sides of Gaius Baltar still warring with one another, showing up sometimes where the other should instead:
Are there any pieces of music in Baldur's Gate that define a Mystra theme more concretely? For those of you who have done multiple romances all the way through (I still haven't finished a play through, I'm TERRIBLE), is there anything unique to Gale that I should pick at more?
The Shape of Things to Come isn't technically a theme for Gaius or any one character, but it's so pivotal to how he transcends himself at the same time that he is forced to acknowledge his own frailty as compared to god(s). If you're unfamiliar with the show, the scene it first appears in is worth gazing at... (spoilers obv but trust me, you'll be confused & it will still be worth watching the show) it inhabits, along with Gaius, a kind of liminal space that Gale does in the story of Baldur's Gate I'd argue, and this sort of sweeping piece is the kind of piece Gale DESERVES in a world where this game gets to be even longer and about every origin character as individuals.
Dark Academia Distant Thunderstorms & Fireplace 🕯️
0:00 The French Library - Franz Gordon
3:05 In a Bar in Buenos Aires - Franz Gordon
5:52 Theme for Autumn - Franz Gordon
8:29 Steps Behind - Franz Gordon
11:23 Shapes of Shadows - Franz Gordon
14:49 Overcome - Megan Wofford
18:05 Song for Johanna - Franz Gordon
21:45 Togetherless - Franz Gordon
25:33 The Tired Summer - Franz Gordon
29:00 The Rose and The Thorn - Johannes Bornlöf
34:50 The Beggar - Franz Gordon
37:56 The Art Teacher - Franz Gordon
41:30 Cloudsailing - Franz Gordon
44:50 African Violet - Arden Forest
47:53 North of Hope - Gavin Luke
51:24 Nocturnal Waltz - Johannes Bornlöf
53:33 Nocturnal Daydream - Franz Gordon
57:03 Dark Water - Magnus Ludvigsson
59:55 Lineage - Gavin Luke
1:03:13 Kobicha - Arden Forest
1:05:52 Il Reste Du Temps - Lo Mimieux
1:09:06 Himitsu - Lama House
1:11:43 Hidden Beneath - Rikard From
1:13:24 Goodnight Story - Magnus Ludvigsson
1:17:00 Felt Like November - Magnus Ludvigsson
1:19:58 Etc... - Franz Gordon
1:22:39 Dimdans - Franz Gordon
1:26:13 Declaration - Johannes Bornlöf
1:30:06 Dark Taupe - Arden Forest
1:32:42 Cassiopeia - S.A Karl
1:35:31 By the Border - Lama House
1:38:11 Book of Maps - Franz Gordon
1:41:00 Be Still - Harley Rain
1:43:37 Ava - Kasper Schill
1:46:25 Airy-Fairy Heart - Franz Gordon
1:49:55 A Sky Sparkling - Johannes Bornlöf
1:52:00 Vistoris Lake - Arden Forest
1:54:44 The Tired Summer - Franz Gordon
1:58:01 The Art Teacher - Franz Gordon
they comfort you while you're crying tears that are masqueraded by the rain. everything is spiraling out of your control but their arms feel like home
you’re staring at the same painting with your star crossed lover in an empty museum
you’re writing your fifth novel while living in the english countryside. you can’t help but sneak a peek out of your window hoping to find them staring back.
they're staring back at you, eyes bright and the ghost of a smile on their lips. they know what you've done and you know what they've done; now the question is, which one of you breaks first?
"⚡Travel destination⚡ : " A Time Traveler's House "
🎬 Short Ambience Story 🎬
This house reflects her vast knowledge and elegant taste in everything. She has been through countless times and places she wants to go
And this room always looks like a mess. Because this room is the place where she tries to find the next destination and be connected to the other dimension
She is concentrating on her consciousness sitting on the time travel chair with some special potion"
From Youtube channel T E R A V I B E: You're invited to a Time traveler's house⏳ [Immersive ambience Experience]
Great visuals combined with great music
This is just amazing
Enjoy...
you're sleeping in the car and it's raining (a playlist)
timestamps / (composer) [performer/s]
00:00 cody (mogwai)
06:24 in a bar in buenos aires (franz gordon)
09:15 when you sat by your window pane (no clear mind)
15:35 clearing (grouper)
20:08 varðeldur (sigur rós)
25:59 remember me as a time of day (explosions in the sky)
31:13 nocturne no. 20 (chopin) [rousseau]
35:17 dark rift (god is an astronaut)
40:16 09-15-00 'cont.' (godspeed you! black emperor)
46:17 brian's song (slint)
52:13 by the border (lama house)
54:55 threadbare (as seas exhale)
a mix of post-rock, ambient and classical piano music with rain sounds
