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Description
Music composed for the OST Composing Jam 9, between August 28 and September 6, 2026. Composed as sheet music using MuseScore 4, with an internal DAW using licensed Orchestral Tools orchestra instruments. Piano parts and general sound mixing performed in Logic Pro 11. Tracks are in order of character development.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
The music serves as a metaphor detailing a tormented man, long past, as he grew up and painfully learned to escape the overwhelming society he lived in, to achieve the simplicity and awareness once felt by our ancestors.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/brother_m/sets/the-man-who-makes-the-flowers-grow
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
The moment I looked at your album art and listened to the first note of your track, it made me think of "To the Moon" by Freebird games. Your tracks show such a good understanding of voice leading and instrumentation. I do wish that the Finale & Credits are a bit longer as the ending feels a bit abrupt.
But anyways my favorite is the Intro & Main Menu and I can't stop listening to it! :) Are you/ have you uploaded the music score for it?
Intro - You have a good instinct for when to shift register. I like The key changes were very well chosen and placed I thought. I hope that cadence gets resolved somewhere down the line!
Forgotten seeds - Very grand crescendo throughout the track, especially with the shifting between tonic major and minor. Perhaps strings could have a bit more stage mic, if impossible, and the celli were a bit too far back in the mix for me.
The twisted man - I can see why Danny Elfman was brought up, those parallel minor chords are very evocative. The bouncy motif worked well in winds and strings but felt a bit off in horns, maybe it's a velocity or expression thing, or too much legato. Same with the low brass at the end.
The voyage - Great use of winds and harp for textural composing. Similar criticism of the horns here, but i think it might just be the limitation of the software. You have a great sense of when a phrase needs to be cut a bar short or be held longer for a bar or two, it makes the music very exciting to listen to.
Whispers - Great variation on the twisted man theme, couldn't ask for anything more.
Finale - Awesome conclusion. Reminded me of Reprise from spirited away, with the passing around of the motif, the minor section and then the build up to the key change passing the motif to low strings. The ending was a bit abrupt, felt like you could have milked it more, and ending on the subdominant left it feeling a bit inconclusive.
Fantastic submission, had a lot of fun listening!
I gotta give you the compliment back, that your work also feels really complete as it is! Every track brings something else to the whole picture. I liked that "Whispers" was right before the end as a little breather between the bigger orchestral pieces. Well done:)
Thank you, Leaf_makes_games! I'd say it is a minimalist completeness but maybe in the future I'll decide to add some more tracks, especially if an actual game ever develops from this little idea. Really appreciated! :)
I am really happy you liked it, rafaelsartori :) The time was short for development, and I confess my brain was completely drained on Sep 6th, but at the same time it was a wonderful experience and I am truly thankful that I found the courage to go through with it!
Wow, you've got a knack for musical storytelling! Even with the limited context provided, I was able to feel and imagine the protagonist's journey just through sound. All of the tracks were wonderful and played key roles in the soundtrack, but I especially loved the way you reprised the intro theme in the ending, it was beautiful. Great job, and thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you, BodoTheSerf! It is funny that I was never any good at telling stories with my words but from the feedback I've been having for many years, it seems there is some truth in your comment ^^ I don't know about other submitters — I guess there are many composers here participating which have already chosen a team to truly develop a game with the written music — but in my case I haven't done so, this is just an idea I had for the context/lore based on a personal story of mine (giving the title to the mini-album). So, I am really sorry I somewhat failed again to tell a story with my words. Thankfully there have been people like you noticing the "story" hidden within the chords ;) thanks so much for listening!
I really really like your composition style (especially how you write for piano, I gotta take notes). Hearing the melody in Intro & Main Menu being rewritten for more of a string quartet in the final track, then evolving into a full orchestra was a really nice payoff. I also like the cover art. Great submission!
Much appreciated, AdPa203! My instrument is indeed the piano, so some of my compositions either mysteriously pop up in my head while performing daily activities (and then transition to the keyboard), or show up when I have the time to sit and let my fingers run over those black and white keys. The Finale & Credits is definitely a nuanced reprise of the Intro & Main Menu theme, and starts exactly with a string quartet! This would be the actual "final moment" of the game (maybe a cut scene) which then possibly moves to the credits with an orchestral full expression via the timpani tremolo crescendo. I am really happy you also noticed the cover art, it was drawn by my lovely fiancée <3 Thank you for your comment! :)
Caught some Danny Elfman vibes with The Twisted Man. Instrumentation is masterful and these melodies have so much character. Super clear movement in every piece and they don't overstay their welcome. If anything, they left me wanting more.
There's emotional nuance. I really liked what you did with the reprise. A lone piano is the kind of thing you'd normally expect to represent serenity because of how simple and intimate it is, but here, in the first track, it's melancholic, like longing. Then that motif comes back with a full orchestra at the end, and somehow that's where the serenity is. It's victorious, but it feels internal. And then it literally goes out on a high note. There's a closing cymbal and everything, but instead of fully resolving it just fades away up there. I don't know if that was intentional, but it left me wondering if the journey is actually finished, or if that sense of peace is something we can only ever get close to, rather than fully inhabit.
This feels straight out of cinema. Pure kino.
Hi Schizectomy, indeed Danny Elfman is a major inspiration throughout my writings! I wasn't thinking about him when I wrote The Twisted Man but hearing it in light of your comment makes perfect sense. I think I did the Intro & Main Menu melancholic as a preview, or a sum up of the events that would follow, because although there is happiness in The Voyage, as well a feeling of liberation, including in the Finale & Credits (deceivingly, as I changed some chords to minor in the reprise), there were some darker moments too, and as Whispers sort of indicates, not everything is OK at the end. Naturally, I didn't have time to develop all my ideas further, especially having only decided to enter on Aug 31st, meaning there would be more nuances to the character's process of finding peace with his connection to our origins. So, yes, the Finale is musically unresolved because the character is also not fully satisfied — while it is nice that he managed to "wake up", one cannot say the same for others around him, and as many of us know, enlightenment can sometimes become a curse.
Thank you so, so much for your words, they really went into the heart of this little creation :)
Quite a great and interesting story you have achieved through the music. I love your compositions, I feel that the intro coveys the vulnerability of this man quite well. I suppose that the forgotten world is what the tormented man escapes to?
Thanks Deádric336, that’s exactly it. I’m sorry, others have also complained that I should have added more lore information. Forgotten Seeds is his former state of hopelessness day-by-day in a selfish society where everything was done by the rule and people barely interacted and shared moments with one another. The strong finale of that track is him feeling overwhelmed by this frustration, which results in a madness of sorts (The Twisted Man). He then realized he needed to let go of his, then, current life and travel around (The Voyage) in search of re-establishing some contact with a former human way of living. In Whispers we hear a reminiscence of the twisted man, now calmer but still saddened by the fact that not many people have, like him, followed this reconnecting path. Still, he now managed to understand his forgotten origins better, and so the Finale brings back the Intro theme in full scale, leaving a trace of hope for the future which, since he has passed away many years ago, is our present.
Nice that you have thought so much about the lore, it adds another layer.
That piano first song is amazing, almost made me cry! I also like the other songs, how the strings and brass hold themselves back, and the control of the dynamics. I see the vision with this one, what a great album.
Yes, the intro theme was what made me decide to go through with the participation in the jam :) I am quite happy that it showed itself up and for keeping me going, but what makes my day is to know that it reached to someone’s feelings, thank you so much for your kind words!
The cover art is so cool! It really fits the music as well.
The Intro theme is so sweet and lovely, I really like the part when the left-hand arpeggios start around 0:54, kind of reminds me of my favorite part of Claire de Lune. I also really like in The Twisted Man around 1:09 the Horn (?) and Tuba duet, leading into the big choir blast. The solo piano in Whispers is really beautiful and intimate as well. So nice!
Such a great variety of amazing tracks here.
Much appreciated, wotlonk! :) The cover art was made with love by my fiancée, I was very fortunate to have her taking time to do so. I am really glad someone paid attention to it! <3
I totally understand the Claire de Lune reference, I love Debussy's music, especially for the piano. I mostly have a "classical" background, I can't even begin to list where my influences start... I guess writing film music is a heirloom to the classical composer, so these two go hand in hand very often. Regarding the 1:09 passage in The Twisted Man, you got it right with the tuba and the horn, but there is a third metal, which is probably more subtle — the trombone. But very well spotted!
Thank you so much for your comment!
Wow, this is fantastic, it sounds cinematic and it's really well composed and produced. You are very good at getting emotions across through your music. The more full-on orchestral tracks are great but my favourites are the quieter piano ones, they're honestly beautiful. Maybe you could have gone into more detail about the context for the music but the tracks themselves are pretty faultless!
Thank you so much, samdgoff! I do have a weak spot for film music, I have only very recently entered the games' trade, so to speak. Although my instrument is the piano (which I played myself in the Intro & Main Menu and Whispers tracks) I have a huge interest in orchestration, as I find a good conversation between the instruments can be quite fulfilling. I ended up starting a bit late into the jam submission period (the first theme only come up on August 31st), so although I had a clear idea about the lore of the game, I worked in orchestration until the very last minute and didn't have much time to develop the context. But thanks for the heads up, I will surely look into making things clearer if this project takes off some day ;)
Thanks again for listening!
LOVE the piano in the first track! the orchestral composition here is well achieved, and done with plenty of variety! high points on storytelling - you know how to compose in a way that reflects your vision perfectly. again, HUGE fan of the solo piano lines. well done!
I deeply appreciate your words, KFComet. I was unsure to participate until the 31th of August, when I sat at the piano late at night, and this theme just showed up. Then the rest followed, up to the very last day. I am really touched by your comment, thank you so, so much!
Great work, enjoyed it a lot !
There was a lot of variety in your soundtrack (ranging from calm and somber to tense and dynamic) with great instrumentation to back it up, which was very nice to listen to
Among the different tracks (which were all very solid) I really liked Intro & Main Menu (the melancholic vibe is very well done) and The Twisted Man (very dynamic and intense instrumentation) most, good job for it !
Thank you vaanrile, I tried to convey the story through the music (there really is no game yet), so I made use of a wide range of instrumentation capabilities that would ride the listener through the proper mood changes of the character — from his original sadness, along the voyage he undertook, and up to his final realisation. I also cherish those two themes. Thank you once more for listening :)
Very nice work! Some of the songs create a bit of a scary atmosphere, but others, like the last one, are a bit more joyful. Lovely contrast, lovely atmosphere, I could really see the soundtrack used in a movie or game.
Thank you so much :) the world the Man lived in was indeed scary, if he stopped to think about it. I tried that the music developed through the journey he undertook to free himself from certain bonds he was never asked to form, and I guess in the end he was able to find some joy in life.
There's so much sadness in this submission when I listened, and at the same time there's so much here that's absolutely gorgeous. What a lovely story and a great sendoff for our protagonist.
Really cool stuff here, thanks for sharing what you've made :)
Indeed the character, which I cannot help mirroring a bit of myself, finds our current world to be overwhelming and too absorbing, making for individuals who barely pay true attention to one another and the surroundings. The Man was twisted by his current world and went on a personal journey of consciousness development and understanding (to achieve some kind of "freedom") which was not easy to take — hence the general sad tone of the music.
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback :)