Album:

Trek to Yomi (Original Soundtrack)

Artist:
Cody Matthew Johnson and Yoko Honda

Product information:

- ‘Swirling storm’ discs
- 31 specially mastered tracks
- Deluxe double gatefold
- Artwork by Flying Wild Hog

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Flying Wild Hog, Devolver Digital and Laced Records have sheathed their blades and formed a blood pact to deliver Trek to Yomi’s samurai-slashing soundtrack onto vinyl.

The double LP sports luxuriant ‘swirling storm’ vinyl that slip into a deluxe double gatefold sleeve, with artwork by the Flying Wild Hog team. The album features 31 tracks specially mastered for vinyl and pressed onto heavyweight LPs.

Cody Matthew Johnson and Yoko Honda were deadly serious about the authenticity of the soundtrack, aiming to sonically and spiritually transport players to feudal Japan during the Edo period and beyond, into the depths of Yomi, the land of the dead. While they studied the film music of Fumio Hayasaka — Akira Kurosawa’s regular collaborator — they chose not to emulate Hayasaka’s orchestral approach. Instead they limited themselves in several ways: to the use of period-appropriate instruments such as the shakuhachi, shamisen, biwa, and taiko drums; to certain scales and the musicality of the Edo period; and they especially leaned on the palette of Gagaku, the Japanese classical style, to capture the abstract and transcendent sound of Yomi.

While Johnson used his sound design skills to twist and layer exquisitely hi-fi live recordings of traditional Japanese musicians to create a thicker atmosphere where appropriate, no synthesized elements snuck into the score. The result is an intense, soulful and vibrant album that is, as Honda puts it, “deeply connected to Japanese culture and its magical and anomalous roots.”

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*All images shown here are mock-ups.*

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Track List

DISC 1

SIDE A

Chapter 1: The Path That Lies Ahead

Sakura Fubuki

Kagerou, The Bandit

Ishi Wo Tsugu Mono

Chapter 2: Like Water Blood Flows

Sadatame, The General

Chapter 3: The Promises We Can’t Keep

Dancing Blades

SIDE B

Bodies Blowing in the Wind

Uchū

Déjà Vu

Chapter 4: Love Everlasting

Pestilience

The Way Down is the Way Back

Aiko, Loveless

Spirited Forest

DISC 2

SIDE A

Chapter 5: Father Belongs to Yomi

Sanjuro, Duty Betrayed

Isshou Kenmei

Between Life and Death

Chapter 6: Sun and Moon

Malevolent Spirits

Michi Shirube

SIDE B

Ara-Mitama, Fury Unbound

Chapter 7: The Perfect Light

Gauntlet of Fire

A Second Dance with Death

Kagerou, Demon Reborn

Tōryanse

Shin Gi Ittai

Honor is a Crutch

Trek to Yomi

Trek to Yomi (Deluxe Double Vinyl)