Bone: Out from Boneville Original Game Soundtrack / Bone: Out from Boneville Original Game Soundtrack / Bone: Out from Boneville Original Game Soundtrack

Back in April, when I was plotting out my first sketches for Bone: Out From Boneville, it was evident that the bulk of the score needed to be highly thematic. Jeff Smith's rich and textured collection of characters, locations, and plot events cries out for a large catalogue of musical motifs to help tie all of the threads together. This is common enough for any graphic adventure game, but it was especially true for this project. After all, not only is the game grounded in telling its story, it's the first installment of a much larger whole. The adventure certainly doesn't end with Fone Bone's reunion with Smiley in Barrelhaven, and therefore the score was obligated to serve two functions equally: to follow the story of the Bone cousins' arrival in the valley, and to hint at the larger struggles that are destined to come.

The musical challenge that this implied was immediately apparent to me. Because the tone of the complete Bone series moves from innocent adventures to dire and epic ones, all of the character and location themes needed to be flexible enough to grow with the story as it progresses from one game to the next. As far as I am concerned this balance between the carefree moments and the increasingly serious arc is the heart of Jeff Smith's unique storytelling voice.

The first sketch I wrote was of the main theme motif for the forest and the larger mysteries of the valley. I strongly felt that although a majority of the tensions in this first chapter of the story are basically light and fun, something of the upcoming weight of Fone and Thorn's quest ought to be represented in the main theme for the game. The lyrical, flowing quality of this motif made it easy to tidily slip it into nearly any other piece of music. It appears at least once in virtually every piece of music in the game, and completely realized versions of the theme can be found in the main titles, and the forest theme.

Likewise, owing to my natural inclination to compose the mysterious stuff first, the second theme I wrote was the somewhat dark and foreboding motif for Great Red Dragon. There is the hint of a Coltranian jazz influence on the Dragon's theme - something that implies both his ancient spiritual nature as well as his undeniable coolness. If the Great Red Dragon is anything for certain, he is cool - probably the coolest. Even in his first brief appearances in the story we feel the dramatic weight his character possesses. Much like the Dragon himself, this theme pops in and out of the score, and is most strongly prominent in the tracks for the Dragon Stair, Thorn's Nightmare, and of course The Red Dragon's Theme.

Harmonically, the main forest theme, and the Red Dragon's share a similar tonality - something that should point to the ancient and mysterious history of the dragons in the valley. Incidentally, the first part of Thorn's theme is melodically related to the forest theme for a similar reason (to be more fully developed as her mythic destiny is fulfilled). Of course, Thorn's primary dramatic function in this first installment is as an adorable love-interest for Fone, and therefore this initial setting of her theme is basically lush, romantic, and sweet. However, I tried to include a "larger than life" quality in her theme - something that will be extensively expanded upon as she grows and meets her fate in the upcoming installments.

Since they seem to operate almost exclusively by instinct and a more primitive brain function than anyone else in the story, The Rat Creatures' theme is written for percussion alone. As the creatures grow in power and organization as the upcoming war progresses, we will hear this theme become a bit more grounded in that octatonic primitivism of Stravinsky and Bartòk that created such raw and brutal concert compositions in the early part of the 20th century. But for now, they just drum on.

Ted the Bug's theme is pure fun, and it afforded me the rare luxury of having a legitimate reason for using a slide whistle, a kazoo, and a jaw harp in the same piece of music.

Likewise, the Possum Kids' theme is pure fun, with a bit of an Irish flare - my own little ode to all of those Disney films from the 50s and 60s when there always seemed to be at least one large family of animals that was Irish.

Ironically, one of the silliest and most comical themes of all is the most sparingly used in Out From Boneville. Phoney's scheming theme - while the underlying foundation for the opening Desert track, and sneaking in and out of the locust chase music and the dinner conversation - is going to be fully cut-loose as we approach the great cow race and all of the barrelhaven shenanigans that are up-and-coming. I'm very much looking forward to it.

One of my favorite things about this project is the down-home Appalachian instrumentation that weaves its way in and out of the score - particularly in the parts of the story near Gran'ma Ben's cabin. It was a fun way to ground the "stuck-in-the-past" quality of Smith's magical valley. It certainly helps to strongly contrast Rose's pace of life with Phoney's sleazy big-business world of Boneville. For those who like it, there will be quite a bit more of this as we meet Lucius, and explore the town of Barrelhaven in the next installment of the game.

For most people words about music are much less interesting than the music itself, so I encourage you to download some or all of the tracks and let them speak for themselves. Hopefully they will bring you some of the same joys I had in writing them.

Happy listening,
Jared Emerson-Johnson