Overview

My first discovery with Yasuhisa 'Yack' Watanabe started with Border Down. It wasn't long until his new work was revealed in early January 2005: Senko No Ronde, a particular hybrid of a 2D fighter with shooter elements. The screens and videos looked appealing, but how was the music? The first glimpse of its music came into the form of an Image CD, containing 4 tracks. Clocking at a sparse 16 minutes, one would wonder about the quality vs quantity being presented here. Fortunately, all four tracks are the usual themes one can expect from Yack.

Body

"Remember first rendez-vons" starts up with atmospheric "airy" effects, supported by synth and a steady beat. Soon enough, what appears to be a "synth-guitar" rips into the piece which gives it a slightly faster tempo, with some piano keys around 2:30. The piano sticks around, while the pleasant synth sound works with the keys and the beat. It ends up with a satisfying synth solo.

Moving on to "Lucky Charm", synths, beats and electronic effects make up the bulk of this piece. It constantly builds up little by little, while having the synth progressing through various chords. All during this time, electronic effects are being placed with the tempo of the piece and create some interesting sections to keep the listener's attention. It ends as the synth quiets down slowly.

Some interesting beats and guitar riffs heat up "Inner Fire" as they are backed by electronic effects. The electric guitar has its own solo for a while until wavy electronic noises in the middle interrupt until comes back in full force, but backed by those wavy effects. It shows Yack experimenting slightly with rock components, with this piece it pays off to experiment as the unusual melding of styles and sounds just work.

In the final track, "assemble", a wavy melody is soon joined by child-like choirs and a steady beat/rhythm. All of that is quickly tossed aside in favor of synth which quickly becomes the main instrument, tho we have some bits of the choir showing up once in a while. Pass the halfway point, the piece slows down with gentle chords supported by the choirs and moves on to repeat the beginning of the piece. It ends up repeating the first part a few times until it quiets down.

Summary

As these tracks show, Yack has the gift to create fun melodies that have the ability to evolve in various ways, which is always interesting to discover. The pleasant sound of the synth is one of the better things going for this mini-soundtrack. That said, now the full soundtrack is being released, there is no reason to get this promotional release unless you are a collector.