Track 5 on the playlist is Koan Sound's remix of Neil Davidge's epic theme for Halo 4. This playlist celebrates video game music in all of its forms, and while the first tracks explored songs in video games, the playlist will mix things up by embracing some of the all time classic instrumental pieces that have appeared on video game scores. In 2007 Bungie, the original developers of the Halo series, departed from Microsoft to work on their Destiny series leaving 343 Industries to step into the fold and begin development on a brand new trilogy of Halo games. The departure of Bungie saw the loss of long-time and much-loved Halo composer and audio director Marin O'Donnell. His innovative approach across 5 Halo games (all 3 trilogy entries and 2 additional spin offs) helped to set the standard for video game scores. He also drove the adoption of 3D audio and surround sound technologies which have become increasingly relevant in recent years with the rise of Virtual Reality (VR) in gaming.
In an attempt to bridge this gap, continuing Marty's legacy while bringing in something new, 343 Industries and Microsoft turned to Neil Davidge, the legendary produce of trip hop giants Massive Attack. Davidge's score injected a newfound sense of urgency into the Haloverse, helping to launch the new trilogy on strong footing and resulting in the Halo 4 soundtrack debuting at #50 on the US Billboard Top 200 to replace Austin Wintroy's equally excellent Journey soundtrack as the the highest charting game soundtrack of all time in 2012. Davidge's Green and Blue proved a high point of the soundtrack and while the original is brilliant, it's Bristol duo Koan Sound's remix that really caught my ear. The track was released by Microsoft Studios on a downloadable album of remixes alongside the soundtrack. I adore this piece of music and can easily listen to it on repeat for an hour at a time. For me it strikes a perfect blend between machine and human somewhat mirroring the arcs of John-117 and Cortana in the game.
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