For my latest piano recital, I performed the piece Desire Below (Calm) from the game “Fire Emblem Fates”. It was composed by Hiroki Morishita, Takeru Kanazaki, Yasuhisa Baba, Rei Kondoh, and Masato Koda, and arranged for piano by YouTube user Starsoarer. I spent almost a whole year learning it with my piano teacher, as well as some time before that learning it on my own, and I’m satisfied with how the performance turned out... for now. (I will keep working on it.) I’ve uploaded the performance for you to watch here! :D
The piece means a lot to me personally, so I wrote a short written piece about my personal thoughts and interpretations behind it. I’ve spent so much time listening to the piece again and again, that it’s started to paint very complex pictures and convey very deep emotions in my mind. I took the opportunity to try and describe those emotions one day:
“This piece holds a special place in my heart, because it is one of the first soundtracks that I ever listened to from Fire Emblem and ultimately had a direct responsibility in introducing me to the series. This is what inspired me to want to learn it, and listen more closely to the details it holds.
Desire Below is a piece with a very dreamy aura. The first part of the piece is in a minor key. It uses fast-paced arpeggios that flow throughout the entire part, as if it were to represent a rushing, ever-flowing river, driving you towards the place you seek, the place you long to see. The beginning starts off with an air of uncertainty. You feel as though you’re in a new, cloudy and dreamy land. Perhaps it’s filled with wonders to behold and new opportunities waiting to be uncovered, just as one may find in such a cloudy dream within the confines of your mind. But the minor key and the melody entwined into those flowing arpeggios add another layer to the uncertainty: a sense of mystery, perhaps even a sense of a darkness lurking underneath the surface, waiting for a chance to untangle itself from all these layers and crawl back through that rushing river. Suddenly, you realize that despite all the possibilities that might await you here, you can’t seem to escape this inner feeling that something here is wrong – that you should not be in this place, no matter how wonderful it may seem. There is something about this place that is too good to be true, yet you can’t help but keep following that river, hoping it will bring you to somewhere better.
Like many pieces that seem to represent dreams, the darker feeling of uncertainty changes into something more light, floaty, and positive. Next, the piece transitions into its next phase, an uplifting waltz melody. The major key suddenly restores your feeling of calm and happiness, as though you’re soaring through an endless sea of clouds. It is as though you are dancing atop them, watching a beautiful, whimsical landscape from where you are, knowing that everything will be alright. You've found somewhere where you are safe to dream. You’re in a place where anything is possible, and if you keep soaring, keep climbing, you’ll eventually find what you seek. This is your happy space, after all. You rode that river until you found what you were looking for, and now, everything will be okay. You can make your wishes come to fruition, you can change the world and make it as beautiful as you see it to be. The stars are twinkling, watching you and guiding you from afar. This is what you were seeking. You can almost drift off, falling asleep to the soft, soothing melody…
But just as you think you’ve climbed to the top and reached what you’re looking for, you’re suddenly brought back to reality, starting with the dissonant chord that strikes from seemingly nowhere. From then, you’re jolted out of the whimsical waltz and back to standard time, bringing the sense of a wake-up call, telling you that this cannot be real. You’ve been happily soaring through the air, dancing in this land of wonder, but suddenly, you remember what this place really is: a place of deception, where darkness lurks. You have been frolicking, reminiscent of what this land once was or what it could have been, if only it existed the way it was in your dreams. The passage start to descend chromatically in both the right and left hand, as if you’re being dragged back down to the ground in order to remind you that things cannot always be the way you wish. As they descend, more and more dissonant chords take hold, contrasting with the major key, as if each one is meant to both vigorously shake you back awake as well as re-establish the tangled, cloudy sense you felt before, in the first part of the piece, right before it shifts back to the minor key. You're left confused, disoriented, searching for that dream again, leading you back onto the river's driving flow. This last part of the piece acts as a transition between the first and second part, joining them together to form the endless cycle in which this dream repeats. No matter what you try to do, this cycle will repeat, again and again, forcing you to rise and fall. The music draws you into the dream, filling your head with your very desires and hopes, only to drag you back down to the truth that lies in the depths below.
Nothing in life can be perfect, not even in your dreams. Sometimes, things won’t always go the way you want, no matter how hard you try. All you can do is keep moving forward and making the best of what you have. Only by accepting this can you be liberated of this nightmarish cycle that will otherwise grab hold of you and never let you go. Only then can you truly break free.”
I'll add a little more to my musical analysis here, which is comprised of mainly my personal interpretation of what this piece means to me, by adding a broader perspective in relation to the piece and the original storyline associated with it. Desire Below is from the video game Fire Emblem Fates. It is featured a side story called "Hidden Truths", in which three mysterious travellers, Owain, Inigo, and Severa, are called upon by a god named Anankos who seeks their aid in saving his world. They arrive in a kingdom known as Valla, a once beautiful and prosperous land that had been left to ruin after a certain incident. Once a beautiful place bustling with people, this land still retains its some of former appearance while also bearing an eerie silence due to the disappearance of its entire population. The foliage still grows and light still pours through the skies, but one cannot help but feel in this place as though something else is still there, watching them...
The details of the story itself is a bit complicated and spoiler-heavy to explain here, but in short, some of my interpretation of the music stems from what I believe Anankos was thinking as he told his story. Maybe it's about how even though his dreams for this place and hopes for humanity were destroyed, he still clings to his memories of what it once was, and his beliefs that humanity can prosper once more. He’s been walking in this endless cycle of hope and despair since those events, constantly searching like that river amongst clouds, but now, maybe there’s a chance that something can be done about it. Perhaps there is still a chance to change what happened, if only he can pass his story on to those who will listen and learn...
As well, I also want to talk a bit about the "Flow" version of the piece. In Fire Emblem Fates, the music that plays over the games strategy-based levels comes in two forms identical in theme and timing, a map theme and a battle theme. The version of Desire Below that I have been discussing is the “Calm” version, the version that plays on the map as you’re watching the scene play out below from a bird’s-eye view. Playing as a tactician of sorts, you direct the characters on where to go on the map in order to strategize their actions and movements, like on a chess board. When you direct a character to fight, the field of view zooms onto the ground itself, where you see your characters physically carrying out your commands. When this occurs, the music shifts to the corresponding moment of the “Flow” version. Instead of a calmer and thoughtful tone for strategizing, this version is more intense and fast-paced to represent the field of battle you’re witnessing. Things are much more intense on the ground, compared to watching from afar.
The Flow version of Desire Below is a bit different than the calm version. You can still hear those three distinct parts I described, but they’re more blurred together by an intense rush or sense of urgency, as if you’re being pushed towards something unescapable. This intense drive crosses right through the first part of the piece, into the second and third parts, creating a continuous driving force throughout the entirety of the piece. Unlike in the Calm version, I don’t really hear a significant change in time signature at all, as if the river is pouring all over the clouds and dreamy waltz that was in the Calm version. It emphasizes the feeling of a constant flow throughout.
If Desire Below (Calm) represents an endless cycle between dreams and reality, reminiscent of peaceful yet haunting memories in the past, then I would say Desire Below (Flow) represents the moment here and now, in the present. The calm version is ethereal, as if you are envisioning all this in your sleep, while the flow version is a jolt of energy. Putting yourself in the shoes of the characters: You are 100% awake, right now. You are actually trapped in this land where those dreams have died, and you are being chased by the undead souls of those who died with regrets as this land fell to it's ruin, now filled with mindless rage after being tainted by this overwhelming darkness threatening to drag you down as well. That is what those three travellers are facing right now, fending off the unseen threat under the guidance and protection of the god above, who is helping them to escape and entrusting to them his beliefs.
Actually, I've never really thought about it like that, but I guess one interpretation of this piece is that the Calm version represents Anankos, a god who only wanted the best for his people, only to watch as everything fell apart. Even now, despite everything, he still keeps on dreaming of that world he wanted, the world that existed before the land's ruination. The Flow version, on the other hand, could represent his three chosen heroes who have arrived to carry out his will, fighting side by side on the ground. They continue to believe in him, and will fight to protect those ideals for the world despite the imminent threat that is here to destroy them.
So, yes. I have a lot to say about this piece. From both my own personal interpretation and my interpretation based off of the story, I think Desire Below is a very complex piece of music that proves how much depth an art form can hold. I’m sure everyone feels something slightly different when they hear the music, and I’d love to hear some other interpretations or feelings people get when they hear this piece. Some people may have heard of the storyline before and some people may know absolutely nothing about it, and maybe that changes how you interpret the music too. Maybe you’ve had certain life experiences that this reminds you of as well. That’s really what I love about listening to music and interpreting it: everyone will have something different to say, something different they hear within the piece, and when you’re able to generate a discussion around something like this, that’s how you know you’ve discovered something great.
You can check out samples of both the Calm and Flow versions of the piece, reuploaded to YouTube, at the following links:
Desire Below (Calm): https://youtu.be/mxoXOPHynt0
Desire Below (Flow): https://youtu.be/XOzGSztdSvE
As well, here is a link to the piano arrangement by Starsoarer that I played: https://youtu.be/tSzEZV34CcE
Finally, here is a link to the full recital! https://youtu.be/WPpTrzca0Jw
I hope you have come to enjoy this wonderful video game soundtrack like I have! Video games often have amazing and complex musical scores to accompany their gameplay and story, so I encourage you all to think deeply the next time you hear something intriguing playing in the back of the game you’re playing! That’s all for now, thank you!
From Keira Lai
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