#2 | Fountain of Love — Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished (PC-88, 1987)

Cosy enough... but compelling all the same

Composers: Yuzo Koshiro/Mieko Ishikawa
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Track Type: Loopable
Placement: "City Music"
Key: C (+Mixolydian modal interchange)
Chord progression: ǁ:C|%|F|%|Dm|%|G7|%ǁC|%|F|%|Dm|G|Bbsus2|Bbsus2 Bb:ǁ
Functional map: ǁ:I|%|IV|%|ii|%|V7|%ǁI|%|IV|%|ii|V|bVIIsus2|bVIIsus2 bVII:ǁ
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 140BPM (Allegretto)
Scale: C Major
Instrumentation: Chiptune (Pop-like)
Lenght: 0:27 (16 bars)
Structure: A (theme), A' (+turnaround)

An early sample from the extensive (and quite broad genre-wise) Master Yuzo Koshiro's catalogue (here with Mieko Ishikawa), "Fountain of Love" remains as fresh as back in 1987 when it was released--and it will serve our newsletter's purposes well at this point because it gives its own spin to techniques discussed in both previous issues while throwing yet another variable (dissected in the end of this article) into the mix.

Starting with the "classical approach" component, this composition (much like that The Legend of Zelda piece we talked about before) builds its structure upon a pair of arpeggios: from the ground up, a "melody driver" tops the "harmony support" (which also doubles down as a counterpoint device) one. Despite being more "traditional" than Koji Kondo-san's, they work quite well together because of their contrasting "paces": the bottom one's triplet feel (through the use of syncopated dotted figures) sets a calmer (and not dull while at it) background that makes the skipping melody line even more interesting without sacrificing the comfort expected of a "city music" theme.

On the harmony side it uses the very same modal interchange pointed on #0's Tactics Ogre piece, to more-or-less the same effect (as it's always the case): lending strenght to a "slot" where a gloomier chord would be expected--here a Bdim is exchanged for a rock solid Bb, and it surely looks (sounds) the part as a dominant chord which ensues the loop restart. Interestingly enough the main melody line here also avoids what I called before the "acidic" minor 7th that comes into play with the Mixolydian borrowing, tricking the listener with a resting point (Do) that's not "resting" at all since now it's Bb's 2nd--even allowing for a late reveal when it finally steps up to the current chord's Major 3rd.

Finally, the secret ingredient. The thematic material's premise is an ostinato--literally an "obstinate" idea that keeps coming back over and over; but it's much more interesting due to how it's displaced rhythmically. Comprised of 1 rest and 5 8th notes (to a total of 3 full beats) it falls short of being enough to fill a bar; but the clever shift made in its overall feel (by making the syncopated rest an integral part of the motif) makes for a delightful waving pattern that's both unique an memorable at the same time.

The “displaced” ostinato is played twice in a row.

Take a listen to the original theme and an impromptu rendition of it I did a while ago. Pro users will be able to access sheet music for this theme plus a link for its interactive sheet at Soundslice. See ya next week!