To attempt to encapsulate the scope of the Final Fantasy series in a few sentences would be borderline impossible. The range of characters, constant evolving set of timelines, and various realms or locations is just too much for the human mind to compress without some sensory assistance, and to be honest, we wouldn’t even try. Thankfully, that’s where the heroic Luo and Josh Trinnaman come in.
Luo, Trinnaman’s main project, is primarily known for using impeccable sense of timing to create a glowing, gurgling strain of progressive music that defies any obvious comparisons, apart from some sort of radiant, all-knowing fungus you’d find near a meteor landing. That being the case, they’d make for a perfect intergenerational torchbearer for the majesty and depth of Nobuo Uematsu’s iconic scores.
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Even people who aren’t really into playing RPG’s are intimately familiar with various parts of the Final Fantasy series, and the soundtracks have played a massive part in this. For instance, one of our favorite bands of all time, Save Us From the Archon, featured intense streaks of Final Fantasy synths all over the melodic mathcore madness on their debut, and when we saw them live, we noticed the bassist had a Cactuar tattoo. In 2012 when that record came out, we had only played Final Fantasy X, so we recognized the Cactuar, but we also knew that technically we were late as hell to any actual discussion regarding the revered collection of games. We bugged them about time signatures instead.
But that was twelve years ago, and the Final Fantasy crazy has only grown with six official additional iterations of the FF universe, not to mention the inevitable nostalgia of the people who played them growing up and still play them today. These days, bands like Luo makes us think of the series in a new way, but at no time did we expect something on this scale – Trinnaman elected FF VII, FF VIII, and FF IX, which may seem like an obtuse choice to some, but there’s painstaking method to this madness. In fact, if you watch the Polygon interview with the original composer in the video above, he mentions that with VII, he wanted to change things up with new levels of nuance and emotion. So it would make sense to at least one legion of fans, and there are many, so in the end Luo chose wisely.
Curated as the Cactuar Collections, these revitalized tunes blur the line between a tribute and something new, even when directly referencing the original. Some parts are almost completely unaltered, and others become downright unrecognizable with the addition of Trinnaman’s signature drums. There are many moments where a phrase in the score is extended or using a compound meter, and it’s actually Josh’s addition of something simple like a 4/4 DnB beat underneath that changes the feeling entirely. For instance, check out this glow up of “Man With A Machine Gun (Laguna’s Theme from FF VIII).”
It’s an entirely different thing, but also, perfectly the same. How could you possibly listen to that and not groove out with your headphones? This is one of those few examples where a cover album or tribute situation doesn’t seem like a repetitive or unnecessary move – for casuals there’s more substance than there needs to be, but not if you’re a fan. “Cinco De Chocobo” sounds like a Jon Scoville jam now, and it’s actually pretty hilarious. However, let’s not forget that Nobuo Uematsu’s original version is no slouch either – here’s a video from the Square Enix Youtube channel for comparison:
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Both are certified jams, but hearing Final Fantasy’s themes elevated into the 21st century like this is pure millennial dopamine. According to Trinnaman, “Cactuar Collections is a trilogy of concept/covers albums dedicated to the Playstation 1 games Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX. My most expansive work to date spanning 32 tracks over an hour and 40 minutes, this anthology combines all three ‘Disc’ albums, including the upcoming FFIX segment, into one comprehensive release.”
However, that’s not it, as the band also attached some incredible live sessions of the songs to Cactuar Collections, which really helps cement that this wasn’t just some silly little experiment. It’s a true labor of love that manages to create a buzz for hardcore FF fans and discerning math rockers alike, not to mention total strangers who just like cool sounding music. These guys are pros.
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There’s a lot of good info in the press release from Bandcamp as well:
Recorded, produced and mixed from the ground up and incorporating aesthetics from styles such as IDM, Breakcore, Drum ’n Bass, Metal, Jazz-Fusion, Hip-Hop, Progressive and Math Rock, Acoustic/Folk, Electronica and more into Nobuo Uematsu’s classic tracks, this album is a nostalgic love letter focused on remaining authentic & respectful to the original tones, structures & arrangements — whilst simultaneously updating or re-imagining some iconic melodies with these contemporary influences & production styles.
I’ve always been a fan of these 3 games in the series particularly, having grown up playing them when they first came out in my early childhood. For a while now, I’ve thought it’d be a really fun challenge to cover some tracks from them and/or play live.
The original PS1 soundtracks were composed entirely with MIDI & synths of the 90s and early 2000s, meaning most of the OSTs feature no real recordings of instruments. This gives the soundtracks a very distinctive MIDI orchestra and 1990s sound to them, that tends to be appreciated by nostalgic fans like myself – but could sound a little dated, retro or ‘fake’ to listeners without the same connection.
The concept of these albums is to bring the old MIDI arrangements to life and re-contextualise them in various ways for listeners in 2024, taking care to avoid losing that original MIDI magic that can easily get lost in the process of updating or recreating it with modern technology & real instruments; striking a balance between the retro-nostalgia and more contemporary, chonky vibes.
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I’ve sourced certain synth tones and FX sounds that are identical or near-matches to the tones Nobuo Uematsu originally used on the scores for FFVII, VIII and IX, using the EMU Proteus 2000 rack synth. Combing through nearly all the presets & sounds on this synth to hunt down certain key sounds he used, without ripping audio from the games themselves, I’ve been able to include various OG details in these versions authentically. www.vintagesynth.com/e-mu/proteus-2000
For the remaining instruments, I’ve learnt & recreated dozens of parts for guitars, 5-string bass, vibraphone, glockenspiel, keyboards, synths and vocals, performed and recorded in my home studio. I’ve also created all-new embellished drum arrangements for nearly every track on the record, including those that originally had no drums at all or very minimalist parts – to highlight the big grooves hidden within.
I’m also delighted to feature a number of good friends & artists across this project, from Etch lending his UK Bass production and break-chopping talents, ‘Sleep Spindles’ bassist Rik Coe returning to perform on a version of ‘Run!’ From FFIX, and my girlfriend Federica’s incredible vocals on ‘A Song From Her Memory’ from FFIX. The live band Cactuar Collective recordings also feature Adam Znaidi, Aleks Podraza, John Wright and James Glazier, who have all played live with or collaborated with Luo in some way previously.
I hope this is all as much fun to listen to as I had making it, both for fellow FF fans and non-fans alike!
Check out the whole thing here.
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks Doctors Without Borders, PCRF, and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more. Thanks again!)