New York, NY (Top40 Charts) T-65b Records and Varese Sarabande Records will jointly release the Tooth and Tale original video game soundtrack through all major digital music outlets worldwide on CD and vinyl on
September 12th. The album features the game's original score by celebrated composer Austin Wintory (Journey, Abzu, Assassin's
Creed Syndicate). This 23-track album features the original score which is an eclectic blend of regionally-inspired dance styles with sarcastic tinges of Russian folk music.
Wintory described the score: "Normally I'm not interested in writing music that has a sort of deliberate eclecticism, because I tend to heavily favor cohesion and economy. But it was genuinely called for here, due to structure of the game; there are four factions, with really only color palette differentiating them, and therefore music became one of the main ways we deepened player agency in their faction choices. It actually needed to feel like four scores in one, so each faction became this sort of quasi-nationalistic sound; a brassy quasi-Bavarian waltz for the militaristic character, an orchestral Italian wedding tarantella for the aristocrats, a strange "liturgical tango" for the Longcoats, and a semi-Bulgarian folk dance for the Commonfolk. I can honestly say I've never attempted a score quite like this as a result, and given that its DNA runs counter to my normal approach, I just really hope it works and people like it!"
TOOTH AND TAIL is a real-time strategy game where you command animals such as boars, owls, skunks, or mice. There are four different factions within the game and it features its own unique lore - and even its own language (created by Sound Designer
Kevin Regamey, and subsequently sung in-game by the legendary Australian comedians Tripod).
Austin Wintory was brought onto the TOOTH AND TAIL team from the beginning and crafted nuanced music that helps to shape this complex world. The music is deeply interactive to the player experience, following the ups and downs of its very fast-paced strategic gameplay. To flesh out the musical ideas even further, Austin commissioned half a dozen musical artists to make "covers" of the scores central themes (which he co-produced) and are interspersed on the soundtrack album amidst the original score.
About Austin Wintory:
Dubbed "Gaming's Eclectic Outspoken Maestro" by Game Informer magazine, Austin Wintory has built his career on exploring and curiosity. He began his obsession with composing back when he was ten years old, when he discovered Jerry Goldsmith's scores to Patton and A Patch of Blue. After a busy high school career composing for the student orchestras, Austin went on to study at NYU and USC with composers
Morten Lauridsen, Charles Fussell, and Erica Muhl. Never satisfied with working in a single medium, Austin has worked in the concert world, film music, video games, and miscellaneous others.
In March 2012, the PlayStation3 game
Journey was released, after three years of work. The game instantly became Sony's fastest-selling PlayStation title, and the soundtrack album debuted on the Billboard charts higher than any original score in gaming history. In December 2012, more history was made when it was announced that
Journey had become the first-ever Grammy-nominated videogame score. The score subsequently won an Academy of
Interactive Arts & Sciences D.I.C.E. award, two British Academy Awards, a Spike TV VGA, and IGN's "Overall
Music of the Year," five G.A.N.G. Awards and host of others. The score features the Macedonia
Radio Symphonic Orchestra and a lineup of top soloists (Audio excerpts available here). Orchestral excerpts, and the stand alone mini-concerto "Woven Variations" have been consistently scheduled for concert performances all over the world since its release.
Beginning humbly as a Kickstarter campaign, Austin's next major game effort was Stoic Studio's The Banner Saga, a unique and mature turn-based strategy / RPG hybrid with a dazzling art direction. The score featured the Dallas Wind Symphony, America's premiere wind ensemble, and an all-star trio of YouTube musicians: Malukah,
Peter Hollens and Taylor Davis. The game and soundtrack were released in early 2014 to critical and commercial success; the score earned Austin over a dozen awards and nominations, including his 4th and 5th British Academy Award nominations, and won the first-ever peer-voted ASCAP Composer's Choice Award for "Best Video Game Score of the Year."
Most recently (released August 2016), Austin scored the debut title for Giant Squid Studios, ABZÛ. The score was an ambitious blend of orchestra, choir and large harp ensemble recorded in both the US and the UK. The game and score were both immensely well-received, earning a number of publications' "
Best Of" lists for top soundtrack of the year, in addition to Austin's second D.I.C.E. Award nomination, a Hollywood
Music in Media nomination, and his 7th British Academy Award nomination.
In 2015, Austin wrote and produced the score for Ubisoft's latest blockbuster: Assassin's
Creed Syndicate. The music is at its heart a chamber score deeply rooted in 19th century traditions, featuring virtuoso musicians
Sandy Cameron and Tina Guo, and an all-star ensemble recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The score earned Austin his 6th British Academy Award nomination, and second ASCAP Composer's Choice Award win, and has been lauded as among the top game scores for 2015 by major industry organizations like GameTrailers, IGN, Movie
Music UK, the International Film
Music Critics Association and the Hollywood
Music in Media Awards.
Austin has also scored nearly 50 feature films, and his first major film score, for the Sundance Film Festival-winning film
Captain Abu Raed, was shortlisted for the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Original Score by the LA Times. His next major film, Grace, was also a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. Austin's score (which featured a wild array of custom-recorded sounds such as babies crying and horse flies, in addition to a large ensemble of clarinets at London's famed Abbey Road Studios), was also highly lauded, earning a notorious
Fangoria Chainsaw Award nomination and being cited by "Visions in Sound" (a popular film scoring radio program) as among the Top 10 Scores for 2010. His most recent films are writer/director Adam Alleca's Standoff, starring
Thomas Jane and Laurence Fishburne, and Amin Matalqa's The Rendezvous, starring Stana Katic and Paul Solet's De Niro starring Adrian Brody, John Malkovich and Antonio Banderas.
Outside of games, Austin also maintains a busy concert composing schedule, with regular appearances throughout the world. Most recently he premiered the commissioned work "This Gaming Life" with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a theatrical work created in collaboration with the legendary comedians called "Tripod." Announced in 2016 was also the unveiling of his partnership with the Chicago-based chamber group Fifth House Ensemble, with whom he will tour in a production of "Journey LIVE," a recreation of the hit PlayStation title, performed interactively live. Forthcoming he will also have premieres with the West Michigan Symphony, Colorado Symphony and others.
Passionate about education, Austin is a regular public speaker at schools and events around the world, in addition to pre-concert talks and workshops. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Education Through
Music - Los Angeles, as well as the Board of Directors for the Society of Composers and Lyricists.
Disc One:
The Food of Beasts
Hopper, Flagbearer for the Commonfolk
Bellafide, Firebrand of the Longcoats
The Quartermaster of the KSR
Archimedes, Left Hand of the Civilized
The Old South Distillery
Hollow in the Gut
Hyperduck Soundworks: Who becomes the meat?
The Hungry Face A Stiff Wind
Kristin Naigus: Bellafide's Tarantella
Fuel of the Firebrand
Snikaree Liberation
Waltz of the KSR (By John Robert Matz)
Black Sledge Uprising
Bonepit Exile
The Siege of Ragfall Road
Eli Bishop: Archimedes' Tango
The War for Meat
Salome Scheidegger: The Ivories of Beasts
Swine, Inscribed
To the Ends
Darren Korb: Anthem of the Commonfolk
Victors Will Feast
