AIM 2023 Judge Review
When that guitar first started strumming those chords, I almost thought we were going to get vocals and an acoustic-pop song. It was a bit of a surprise to hear the bells at 0:27, which immediately set it in the RPG village theme style for me. The composition and sound design evoke many emotions associated with returning home, to your hometown or village, which ties in wonderfully with the art inspiration and your interpretation of it. I can absolutely imagine this playing during an ending cutscene of an RPG with this art as the background and the credits rolling up. The hero and begins the journey home to a quaint country life.
If I had to point out one issue, I think the drums at the start of the phrases sound a bit like they're clipping. It might be the bass sounding like it comes in a little too strongly (imo) but it wasn't bad enough to detract, especially with this entry being as well-put-together as it is. The harmonica and flute play off each other so well and I really like the folksy section with the flute melody and the metre change-up. Even though there's a lot of changes, every section flows nicely into one another. It definitely helps that the melody really gets a chance to emote a lot in both the more upbeat and quieter sections.
Overall, I think this track nails the RPG vibe once more than instrument is playing. When listening, I can clearly hear that this track drew upon the emotional resonation of the artwork and I love how that was captured in the development of the melody.