Posted in: Games, Music, Review, Video Games | Tagged: album, Alkis Livathinos, Black Screen Records, Hue, Review, soundtrack, vinyl

Falling Through The Chords Of The 'Hue' Soundtrack By Alkis Livathinos

Published Sat, 24 Jun 2017 18:45:29 -0500

by Gavin Sheehan

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Alkis Livathinos is a musician based in London who started getting into making music for video games shortly after seeing the film Indie Game: The Movie. At the same time he was hitting people up to do music, he found out that Fiddlesticks Games (the creators of the puzzle game Hue) had actually used one of his songs for their debut trailer to the game. It was an interesting happenstance that got both parties together and led to a very beautiful soundtrack.

The game got a fair share of praise, but the soundtrack was glorified and people demanded to hear more of it, so an official soundtrack was released. Black Screen Records recently put out a vinyl copy of it, which we got a copy of and will be reviewing for you today. First off, let's talk about this cover, with a lovely illustration and cut-out pieces on the front that gives it an extra artistic touch. Inside, as you'll see below, each sleeve has two different colors on each side, so you can change what color appears on the cover and you can customize it to how you're feeling.

The inside design is wonderful, there's nothing really interactive about this part, but it's a nice touch to have something from the game. Same for the back end where it's a simplistic design with a color fade behind most of the lettering. I was kind of saddened that the back was designed in a way where your handprint shows up (forgive my grease prints from where I've pulled it from the shelf), but it isn't so much a make or break kind of thing.

The vinyl inside was great to look at, as the first record is an aqua blue and the second a lovely shade of purple. The cut and the grooves were nice to see, however, my copy came with dust in both sleeves and I had to give them a quick cleaning before playing. Once they got onto the player, I didn't notice any audio issues from the dust, so I was very relieved I didn't end up with a copy that was going to give me problems moving forward.

The music itself is amazing! Alkis Livathinos is an amazing job composing this by himself as every track takes you to far distant lands of exploration. Tracks like "Home" and "Droplets" have this subtle sadness to them that catch you off guard and make you want to reflect a bit. The piano drives the heart of the album as you blissfully follow every chord. "Knowledge", "Great Machines", and "Hallowed Halls" give you a sense of adventure and danger, while still keeping you entranced. If I were wondering the streets at night on foot, this would be the music to guide me as I went through shops, got dinner, had some food, and made my way around downtown before walking home.

The final little touch (aside from a digital download) was a piece of sheet music from the game's main theme as a sort of P.S. to the listener that they too can play these tunes and they're not a complicated mess of digital composing. I loved this soundtrack, and it's a shame it doesn't get more attention than it already has. Why this didn't win more video game awards for the soundtrack is beyond me. Hue deserves your full attention, and trust me, you'll love every bit of it.