Interview: The Music of The Last Waltz (Part 1)

Authenticity matters in The Last Waltz. Dancesport is a unique sport in many ways, and the music used in Dancesport competitions is different to what you'd expect in a normal soundtrack. Dancesport music requires specific rhythms, structures, and tones, and for that reason, we knew early on that using existing music wouldn't really work for this project. We needed an OST.

To achieve that, we worked with three different music artists, each contributing around 10 pieces of authentic Dancesport music.

Today, we sat down with one of the artists, Jof, to discuss what was challenging and interesting in this project. Jof's background comes heavily from Hip-Hop tradition, so it was always going to be an interesting process for him to try his hand at a Waltz or Cha Cha. The results, however, are some of the most vibrantly different music that you'll hear in the soundtrack.

1. What interested you in the project in the first place?

I love making music, I love games, and I specifically am fond of visual novels, so being able to do music for one was an amazing opportunity! I also have always liked to do the unexpected, the unorthodox, and I love how this VN plays with the tropes while also subverting some of them. Being able to put that into my music was a great process.

1. What was the experience of writing authentic Dancesport music like? Were there any particular highlights of note?

It was challenging, it really was. I'm not a professionally trained composer, I usually make sample-based Hip-Hop music as a hobby. "Sample-based" means I take pieces of existing works and recontextualise them, combine them with other pieces, and create something new. It's like a musical collage. And just like making collages doesn't teach you how to paint, sampling doesn't teach you how to compose.

But I do think, similar to making collages, that you develop a certain aesthetic sense. And with modern music production software, taking that aesthetic sense and turning it into music has become easier than ever. But then the next challenge is that this sense is 100% focused on Hip-Hop, and while some Dancesport music can have Hip-Hop influences, on the whole it's... well... not Hip-Hop.

Before I started on this project, I had never expected I would sing a Viennese waltz-style ballad, sing a sensual jazz song or, on the flipside, a Hip-Hop Waltz. It's been an incredible process of development of growth. And really, the final challenge is in that word "authentic" in the question. It's not just about making a song that sort of sounds like it could be danced to professionally, but it was really about making something that could be used in competitions. This meant emphasis on specific counts in a measure, and with some, like the Paso, a very specific narrative and rhythmic structure. And not just "this part needs to be more tense" but really "these three counts need to be emphasised".

What's been really amazing to me is also following up the other composers' work and finding out how much experimentation is possible within these tightly defined structures. Everyone encounters these limitations from their own background and in struggling with them ends up in radically different places.

1. What did you learn about Dancesport by working on this game?

That y'all count music weird. Somehow it's the same as how a musician does, and somehow it just isn't. I haven't quite learned how exactly it is different, let alone why, but that it's different I have! It's another thing draws back on this experimentation within limitations. I'd seen some Dancesport, but never knew about the specific rules, structures and requirements.

What's amazing to me is how dancers can really develop their own expression and gain a sense of freedom not within the confines of these rules and structures, but exactly through these structures. It's less about an opposition between freedom and constraint, and more about a development through constraint and release. Probably all art is like this, though.

1. What are you hoping that players will take away from your contribution to the game?

Music gains significance not because of itself, but because of how it impacts you. The song you listened to when you first fell in love, first had sex or first beat that difficult boss just hits different. And this is not just for the standout experiences: every time you "consume" a piece of music, you with your whole history, expectations, mood in interaction with the piece, also produce a novel experience, and there will be none just like it.

To be able to contribute to the production of such moments with my music is really profound, I think. Additionally, most of the most-loved video game tunes are so beloved not because of their intrinsic character, but because of the way they interact with the narrative that they create something that is deeply moving, be it emotionally or to set the tone for the fight.

What I really hope is that my music can help co-shape, with the rest of the game and the player, such moving moments, whether they draw you further into the game's narrative or get you to bust a move yourself on the spot.

1. Where can we go to hear more of your music?

You can find my music on Bandcamp,

https://jofmuziek.bandcamp.com/

Or on youtube

[dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/@jofmuziek8235"]

As this is mostly a hobby, I tend to be lax at promoting it, but give it a listen if you're curious! I'm now in the final stages of releasing a new, collaborative Hip-Hop project that will be in English, Dutch and even a little bit of Spanish, I'm working on putting out instrumental versions of my earlier music... lots to come!