Initially, it’s little more than white noise and echoing metal strikes, before a single swelling string chord and more metallic percussion fragments join in. The utterly spell-binding “Misty Menace” pairs back its instrumentation even further. This is music that tantalisingly suggests, rather than reveals. Sounds of dropping water mix with wooden xylophone strikes and other percussion, echoing in the depths to hint at a vast, dimly lit space.
Listen to “Cave Dweller Concert”, running at nearly six minutes when looped. The effects of this restrained approach are stunning, thanks to Wise and Fischer’s compositional care. Wise and Fischer’s work suggests a world rather than spelling it out, leaving gaps for the listener to fill in. For a 16-bit platformer score, Donkey Kong Country is at times exceedingly minimalist. Be it to avoid sensory overload or not, most of the time the music subtly establishes a particular mood, rather than underscoring the on-screen action. More often than not, Wise and Fischer react to the game’s immensely detailed, colourful graphics with ascetic music that suggests a very different aesthetic. While Wise and Fischer integrate jazz (and some rock’n’roll) influences seamlessly, the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack shines brightest elsewhere. While fondly remembered by many gamers, it only makes up a relatively small part of the score.
The same goes for the soundtrack’s jazz component as a whole. It’s interesting to note that this lively melody – although now so closely associated with the franchise – really only makes one brief appearance on the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. The most memorable and best developed incarnation of this influence is “DK Island Swing”, presenting what has become the unofficial Donkey Kong Country theme, reprised on future franchise titles. Where the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack sticks closest to conventions is in its use of vivacious swing jazz to underscore its jungle environment. Mostly though, Donkey Kong Country plays almost like an antithesis to the typically bouncy sound of 16-bit platformers. The soundtrack was one of the very first Western game scores to receive a commercial release – on both sides of the Pacific.Ĭonsidering the lavish, intricate nature of the game’s graphics, as well as its (initial) jungle setting, where would Wise and Fischer take the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack? Occasionally, they play to genre expectations. Fischer – recently graduated from college – on the other hand contributed seven compositions. The latter’s contribution only extended to one track (“Funky’s Fugue”) that Wise converted to run on the SNES. For the first time in Rare’s history, David Wise was joined by co-composers: Eveline Fischer (now Novakovic) and Robin Beanland. While it was the game’s quasi-3D graphics that made waves back in 1994, what has arguably aged better is the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. More than nine million sold copies later, Donkey Kong Country had become a milestone in gaming history. What set the game on course for domination of the 1994 Christmas season were its ground-breaking graphics. It’s probably safe to say that Donkey Kong Country was always destined to be a blockbuster. Donkey Kong Country Soundtrack (SNES), Robin Beanland / Eveline Fischer / David Wise, 1994