Al Jarreau is one of Agathe’s mom’s favorite musicians. Of course, when Onne worked on this synth and horns-heavy arrange, he didn’t know that: he was merely experimenting on brand new styles, expanding his skills and paving his way into the colorful variety of styles that would make up our music later. This cheery arrangement paved the way for many of our songs, and the atmospheres Onne created in them.
Jun 21 2014
Raven’s Jig – You’re so Cute! (off-vocal)
Believe it or not… This is also a Hans Zimmer song. The last one we played to date, and a particular one at that; this is one of the first songs that gave Onne inspiration to play more cheerful songs and experiment in more childlike styles, which would much later lead to the rise of our more playful band Flan Doll, and to a lot of happy songs in-between. When hearing this arrange, Agathe said ‘this is so cute it just reminds me of Bambi’ – hence the Bambi images used in the YouTube release.
Apr 16 2014
Raven’s Jig – Moon River
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is one of Agathe’s favorite films, and both Raven’s Jig members love Audrey Hepburn’s sheer sense of style and grace – so it only made sense to pay homage to her with this simple, straightforward arrange of Henri Mancini’s Moon River. Of course, it doesn’t beat the original scene with Hepburn stroking her guitar’s strings on the windowsill, but we did have that image in mind while playing and singing this arrange, and we put our hearts and admiration into it.
Mar 28 2014
Raven’s Jig – My Favorite Things
The Sound of Music is basically a mix of hit songs that would all become icons in musical history, and My Favorite Things has been arranged and rearranged to the max. It is actually one of Agathe’s favorite melodies of all times, which brought her to uncontrollable tears from sheer beauty when she was a little girl. We didn’t dare to touch the amazing original lyrics to this colorful song full of imagery, but we did decide to add our own imagery, with one extra original verse listing some of our favorite things, as a tribute to the original.
Mar 23 2014
You Were There
It has been a busy last couple of months at Raven’s Jig’s corporate headquarters. Agathe got out her celtic harp and recorded Moscow Nights, a Russian song that originally went by the name of Подмосковные вечера. I was fascinated by the melody of Moscow Nights after hearing a French arrangement performed by Francis Lemarque (he called the song Le Temps du Muguet). The short harp version was performed solo on harp by Agathe:
Furthermore, we were fortunate enough to collaborate again with the Japanese utaite Kanipan (かにぱん。). She requested us to perform “You Were There” together with her. You Were There was composed by Michiru Oshima for the 2001 video game ICO. Oshima is the brilliant composer who also composed Bratja. You Were There turned out to be a fantastic instrumental song to try out numerous keyswitching techniques for brass and wind instruments. The versatility of the trumpet, trombone and flute helped a lot to capture the feeling that this song was supposed to have.
Raven’s Jig – You Were There (instrumental)
Kanipan, who requested the song, left us with the freedom to write any lyrics we saw fit. After a bit of fiddling with our thumbs, we went for the theme of meeting again with a friend, who has been away on a trip for some time. Some of us might seek happiness or fulfilment all across the globe. We travel around, visiting places of ancient cultures long gone, or 24 hour cities with a more active night time than day time. Yet, when we return back home, we find out that being with our friends makes us a lot happier than trying to find exactly that elsewhere. This is turning into a rather rambling paragraph, so below is the vocal song for you.
We have produced a couple more tracks, but this news entry is starting to get fairly long. Our other songs for March will be posted in another news article. It’s mean, huh? Well, good things come to those who are patient, is what they say. Enjoy the music, and I hope to see you soon. Feel the power of the sun!
Mar 01 2014
Raven’s Jig – Memory of Light and Waves
You can’t say you’ve arranged music if you haven’t arranged at least one piece from the masterpiece soundtrack that is Final Fantasy’s, right? Well, that is one checkbox ticked off. This cute, seaside-like, off-vocal arrange of Eternity ~ Memory of Lightwaves from Final Fantasy X-2 was a break Onne granted to himself, to see if he could. The result is a tender, small and humble bringer of peace of happiness.
Mar 01 2014
Raven’s Jig – Windmills of Your Mind
After Agathe was moved to tears by Dianne Reeve’s rendition of this song (do check it out if you can), and by the beauty of such fatalistic, realistic, downright sincere lyrics, she pestered Onne so they could arrange it. Onne gave this song a unique twist, minimizing the majestic drums as much as possible and keeping the instrumentation to a mix of intimate, sad strings to emphasize the voice performance. Agathe sang this song sick in the winter, and on the verge of tears. The whole mix is what gave this arrange its uniqueness.
Feb 15 2014
Raven’s Jig – You Were There (on-vocal)
If this song from the video game Ico reminds you of FMA’s Bratja, don’t be surprised – they were both composed by Michiru Oshima, whose music we appreciate dearly. This specific song, however, was chosen by hit Utaite Kanipan, as part of the second collaboration we did together. In Better Together, this piece, featuring original English lyrics by Agathe, serves as closure to an album that opened with Bratja, bringing harmony to the whole mix.
Jan 17 2014
Better Together!
There is a thing about collaborating with other musicians, that gives off a feeling of warmness. Said a more serious way; during collaborations you can learn and discover stuff that you wouldn’t be able to without them. The song shown below are both collab songs. A good friend of mine runs Seventh Element, and we have worked together in the past as well. This time around, he played “Better“, and allowed Raven’s Jig to put together an arrangement. During the arranging stage, I realized that the arrange could shine brighter when combined with a live drum recording. As it was written, as it was done!
Raven’s Jig – Better ▶ custom player
Another great chapter in our musical book is a collaboration with the utaite Kanipan. (かにぱん。). Though, she is much more famous than we are, I asked her for a collaboration during a bold moment, and surprisingly received a positive answer! It is amazing what simply asking can get you. The song shown below is the result of our collaborative effort to produce a dual-vocal interpretation of the well-known Chrono Trigger song 600 A.D. Yearning of the Wind. Stay tuned for more collabs with either of these great musicians!
Raven’s Jig – Wind Scene ▶ custom player
As always, we will continue having fun producing songs, and we will try to release new songs on a regular basis. I wish to believe I can produce one song every 2-4 weeks, though the releases come as they are. The music section shown at the top of this web page will contain most of our songs (I’m still working on it!), though it is possible to listen to our songs on YouTube via this playlist. Have a nice day, and let the power of the sun be with you.
Dec 24 2013
Raven’s Jig – Wind Scene (Yearnings of the Wind, 風の憧憬, on-vocal)
This arrange of an iconic and melancholic Chrono Trigger soundtrack is our first collab with hit Utaite Kanipan… And it felt like a dream come true. Onne suggested the collab to the Japanese singer, and Agathe, who had been a big fan of her for a while, was overjoyed to provide lyrics and singing to complement Kanipan’s. Our music really feels better when we are together with more amazing artists! This was an honor we will always appreciate.