Greetings, Citizens!
For May's Dev Diary, we sat down with composer Paul Aubry, who has been hard at work creating the beautiful soundtrack for Town to City!
When did you first realise that you wanted to pursue a career in music?
I have been exposed to music at a very young age by my parents. Music has always been very important to me and I always thought I wanted it to be my job, but the most critical shift for me was to realize in my twenties I didn't really want to be a musician/performer, but a music composer/producer.
Did you study music at university or college? Or are you self taught?
I studied composition and arrangement and had jazz piano lessons in college, then studied composition in university. As for music production, I am self taught.
What would you say is your greatest musical achievement to date?
I will not dare say "greatest" since it can be a bit subjective, but I consider my music for the video game Airborne Kingdom as my most important musical work, because it was my first entry in the indie game world, and it is because of this project that Joost decided to give me a shot at working on Galaxy Grove first game Station to Station (and then leading to Town to City).
(Screenshot of Station to Station)
What initially got you into composing music?
In my teenage years, I always had an interest in creating my own music, but It did not come that naturally. Then I decided to study composition in school, I worked hard to develop that skill and in my twenties I realized that I really loved creating immersive music so that eventually led me to media composition/game music
What was the first musical instrument you played?
I started learning piano at around 8 years old.
Describe what your career has been like so far.
I have not been doing this professionally for a very long time (just a bit more than 5 years full time) , but so far so good! I am very grateful for the people I’ve met and the opportunities that were given to me. I have so far been fulfilled by wonderful projects and I collaborated with wonderful people. My career has been growing slowly but surely and I’m hoping it stays on this track!
What challenges do you face as a musician?
A lot of things come to mind! One that maybe stands out, as a freelance composer/musician, I find that working on multiple projects at once can sometimes be a challenge. Handling the fear of missing out and to refuse projects, managing and anticipating multiple changing deadlines, and creatively shifting your mind from one project to another can sometimes be overwhelming and at the same time, very stimulating. On the complete opposite, also having to find work in a saturated industry when your schedule is a blank page can also be a source of stress! Fortunately this has not happened for a while now!
What types of games do you like to play in your free time?
My most preferred type of game has to be adventure games, and my favorite franchise is definitely The Legend of Zelda. Outside of that, I do enjoy many game genres: from 2d platformers like Ori and Celeste, to horror games like Resident Evil. Truly I can enjoy almost any genre when the games are well executed.
How has working on Town to City been different from other projects you’ve worked on previously?
The main aspect of this game standing out from other music I did in the past is the vintage french aesthetic influence . Music was meant to be a continuation of Station to Station's sound palette, and in these circumstances, the addition of the accordion was a bit inevitable. For this project, I bought a nice two octaves accordion and it was really fun experimenting and recording with this particular instrument. You can hear it here and there throughout the soundtrack and it's the main sonic element that separates Town to City from Station to Station.
Where does your inspiration draw from when creating music for Town to City?
French music obviously was the main inspiration here. Even though in the end the soundtrack is far from sounding typically french (the game’s historical period and location remains vague and fictional) , the main aspect that I aimed for was for it to sound warm, welcoming, nostalgic and “feel good”. I listened to many “feel good” movie soundtracks like Up, Ratatouille, Amélie Poulain, and listened to many french singer songwriters . In video games, I always loved Lena Raine’s music and drew inspiration from some of her work in Chicory for Town type music. Melodically, I also tried in the past years to draw influence from music like Octopath Traveler. So it goes in many directions. A few pieces also have subtle references to Claude Debussy’s work.
What has been the best part of working on Town to City so far?
I really enjoyed every step of the process! Writing this type of music was really fun, and going off the computer to play a bit of accordion was a workflow refreshment. Some live instruments were recorded recently too and this part is also very exciting since it really suddenly comes to life. Galaxy Grove is always giving helpful feedback so the process is always nice and fluid. I am looking forward to putting together the final result!
Add Town to City to your wishlist now, and keep up to date with all things Galaxy Grove in the Discord!
