#VVVVVV SOUND TRACK PLUS#

“Pressure Cooker” is one of my favorite tunes on the soundtrack with its dance inspirations some cool musical effects. I particularly like the modulations into the relative major/minor keys here. Despite being a slower tune, “Passion for Exploring” has the first truly catchy melody, because the melody line is always at the top of the texture and is also the loudest line heard. This track is a slow, plodding track that gives a sense of drifting through space, and has some great ad lib style solos. This more laid back approach is also found in “Pipe Dream”, though with more going on. This is a very progressive and mellow track - a complete contrast to the rest of the soundtrack but a welcome one.

It opens with the accompaniment that gradually develops with more notes and extra weight in the bass and treble ends, then the tune enters about a minute into the track. “Presenting VVVVVV” is the first big tune in the soundtrack, and while this may be a misleading first impression of the rest of the soundtrack, it’s actually a really simple, well crafted tune that sets the appropriate mood of desolate space, and wouldn’t be out of place in a Metroid game. This being said, Souleye included some tracks of complete silence to create a gap between tunes. Perhaps this could have been handled better with a fade out. Now onto the main body of music, it’s important to note that when listening to these tunes they are designed to loop and so therefore most of them don’t really end - they just stop.

If you’re listening to the album right the way through from start to finish, these tracks complement the longer tunes really well.

“Plenary (game complete jingle)” is weirdly triumphant in a very spacey way. Meanwhile “Path Complete” prepares the listener for the bass heavy “Passion for Exploring” and “Phear” offers an 8-bit ghostly wind (it’s even a mystery as to whether this track is actually in the game). “Powerup” opens the soundtrack well, while “Pause” offers a filtered, treble heavy and grainy jingle that effectively leads into “Pushing Onwards”. As a result, the jingles don’t feel unnecessary and actually break up the rest of the album nicely. This is all presented in a coherent order that makes sense for standalone listening both in context and out of context. The soundtrack consists of nine tunes, five jingles and two other interesting tracks.

#VVVVVV SOUND TRACK PLUS#

The resultant soundtrack release, PPPPPP, is lovingly crafted - as is evident right from the start with its incredibly clever album artwork (a parody of a certain famous album) and title (look at the titles of all the tracks, plus what does P look like if you turn it 180 degrees?).

The sound quality is better than what you”d find on the C64 or NES, but is still firmly routed in the chiptune genre. Pålsson aimed with this soundtrack to create a collection of uptempo and extremely catchy tunes that would make the player want to keep going back to the game for more. Similar to the game itself, the soundtrack - created by Magnus Pålsson, aka SoulEye - is a chiptune throwback to the 80s. Terry Cavanagh is great at coming up with innovative ideas, addictive gameplay, and retro graphics, as exemplified by his first big commercial success VVVVVV.

Vvvvvv sound track