A White Space of Song
A look at the soundtrack of Omori
Welcome to White Space, for as long as you remember, you’ve been living here, and it’s here where you’ll either find yourself escaping from reality, or taking a break from it. Either way, relax, and find peace with yourself with this music.
This sort of concept is what’s explored in Omori, a relatively recent RPG game that I had the pleasure of playing and going through. The story hits hard and really impacts you in a way I recommend others play the game to understand, but what impacts me the most from it is its music. In fact, the reason I played Omori, and was even interested in it was because I stumbled upon one of it’s songs by complete and utter coincidence, the one that should play in a bit after this opening. It’s music really just spoke with me, it called to me and made me so curious to try it out, and to see what this game was all about, a choice I do not regret, especially with its music.
In a similar fashion to Bloodborne, the music stuck out to me and really made the game as perfect and wonderful as it is. But while Bloodborne’s music was oppressive and haunting, the music from Omori is lonely and isolating in some ways, but extremely peaceful and calming. It makes me think and almost brings me to tears at some parts. This is for sure one of those games where the story itself is good, but its elevated by its music, which itself is extremely diverse and has at least one song everyone can like.
The songs are divided up into 2 parts, one being songs from reality, and the other part being songs from the White Space, this primarily has to do with the story, but I don’t want to spoil anything, and I’m archiving and studying the music and not the actual game itself for this. While for the playlist above, I primarily chose more peaceful songs from White Space, the songs I didn't choose are still all very good, its just that these songs impacted me a bit more. This is primarily because well, while I do like to groove, the sad and somber music just sticks out when compared to the rest of the game. It’s not a bad thing at all, as it actually impacts and makes the story even heavier for me, and makes it all the more memorable.
The tracks playing right now I’m sure help demonstrate this, its calming and peaceful, yet very lonely. The songs use a mixture of piano and some violin to help create tunes that stick out to your mind and help make a leitmotif that just pops out to you, making me reminisce of my own childhood somehow. I think this primarily has to do with the piano playing slowly, a way that reminds me of my own innocence and childhood. Following this, the slow tempo and sounds of a harp just also calls out to you in a way. It makes you think, and just sit down and relax in a way other music can’t really do. All of this music is just really good at making you stop and just let it all go as you relax to the charm of this music. It brings back memories, well for me anyway, of my own childhood, and what I did. Its nostalgic funnily enough even though I literally finished this game 2 weeks ago.
Now, if the playlist is played long enough, there will be two songs that are a complete departure of what was heard before, and it’ll be known what I’m talking about when they’re played. The use of the guitar and violin depending on the song heard, and the way static is used just creates this equally oppressive and haunting music that while not on the same level as Bloodborne still pops out to me and is different in a way that I can say its probably on par with Bloodborne. Omori’s music is just overall, fantastic, it’s creative with it’s music and has a tune at least someone can enjoy and listen to. It’s songs are all equally important to the narrative as well, and I just can’t stop listening to it. This is primarily why I’m archiving it, I want to talk about it, and explain how its just started to take over my listening habits. It’s a beautiful ost, and I do recommend that people hear the rest of the ost, as this single playlist can’t do justice for the emotions it makes me feel.
If the playlist isn’t done, I very much recommend finishing listening to it as the songs aren’t very long themselves. Once finished, clicking on “stab” will lead to the “ending” of this journey where I’ll finish my conclusions and reflections and discuss two other songs. Face the reality and escape this white space and I hope the music was as impactful as it was for me.
Works Cited
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 001 Title.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 25 Dec. 2020. https://youtu.be/9d9e6XmNn9Q
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 122 WHITE SPACE.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 25 Dec. 2020. https://youtu.be/POMNynMVTk0
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 112 H20:HCL.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 25 Dec. 2020. https://youtu.be/KszmrMQYYNw
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 013 A Home For Flowers (Tulip).” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 25 Dec. 2020. https://youtu.be/u2xW23u4qEY
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 060 It Means Everything.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 25 Dec. 2020. https://youtu.be/8wKWwUzgCE8
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 169 OMORI — ALTER.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 8 Jan. 2021. https://youtu.be/bKC8qqqLZ6A
Silva, Pedro. “OMORI OST — 173 Gone.” YouTube, uploaded by OMO CAT, 8 Jan. 2021. https://youtu.be/Bv5XwI5O7BQ
