It’s weird. I tend to enjoy rock or metal instrumentals in video game soundtracks more than I do from traditional virtuoso artists. The reason is that instru-metal guys—who are mostly guitarists, obviously—can’t get past their virtuosity and present a coherent song without their chops getting in the way. A song that has “handles,” where you can really grab onto it in your head. I’d rather put on Scale the Summit’s Carving Desert Canyons or Vinnie Moore’s Meltdown (“Cinema” is top notch) than Malmsteen or Plini. Steve Vai is maybe an exception for me, but his kind of intergalactic-level talent comes once a generation.
Anyways, “Sunshine Coastline” is that kind of “handle metal” done right. It’s got a bit of aggression, but it takes a back seat to the bright melodies and the interplay between the guitar and piano/synth/violin. It reminds me a bit of the full-throttle major key assault that I can’t ever get enough of, the kind of cuts you might hear from one of the Atelier games soundtracks or a good Saturday morning cartoon (I date myself here) or an anime opening. Why haven’t I posted an Atelier song yet?
“Sunshine Coastline” plays near the beginning of Ys VIII, after you get through the prologue. Your PC, Adol, is stranded on an island and has to, naturally, explore the environment. There a few videos of the song on Youtube with over 1 million views, so plenty of folks are attached to the song; it’s not just Jay!
Listen below or load the mp3 of “Sunshine Coastline” in a new tab/window.