Award-winning producer and video game music composer Luminist released his new album Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree (Original Soundtrack) on the 27th of January via Infinite Hex. The Wildboy Studios’ game Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree was first released in 2019 alongside the launch of Apple Arcade. Later that year, Luminist won a New Zealand Game Award in the Excellence in Audio category for the soundtracks he produced, one of which was featured in the release date trailer for Atone on PlayStation’s official Youtube channel. Delivered under the publisher Untold Tales, the game is available on Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam, and PS4.
The producer first made a splash in the gaming space with his analog remakes of the 1986 video game Metroid’s official music, gaining attention from the leading gaming publication GameSpot as well as Killscreen. In 2022, he released a remix album titled Metroid Resynthesized, which was pressed on vinyl by the US label One Run Records. The first 300 copies sold out in 10 minutes, making it somewhat of a collector’s item for fans of the game. His music has also appeared on the popular Youtube channel Summoning Salt and accumulated approximately 3 million streams across platforms.
Atone: Heart of the Elder Tree (Original Soundtrack) LP Tracklist:
1. Determination
2. Emergence
3. Red Celebration
4. Learning to Fight
5. As the Village Sleeps
6. Waking Nightmare
7. Goodbye, My Light
8. The Cloaked Figure
9. A Warrior’s Last Breath
10. Morning Whispers
11. Resting Place
12. Nothing Ever Happens Here
13. Cold Blooded
14. Her Journey Begins
15. The Deathly Shore
16. Winding Paths
17. Serpent’s Kiss
18. Ruination
19. Deathwalker
20. Out of the Dark
21. Serpent’s Fang
22. Cascades
23. Brother in Arms
24. A Horrible Secret
25. The Old Bridge
26. Sons of Fenrir
27. Upward and Adrift
28. Serpent’s Doom
29. The Frostbitten Blade
30. Reunion
31. Frozen in Time
32. Eiryn’s Lament
33. Blood on the Snow
34. Bared Teeth
35. Trickster Demon
36. Homecoming
37. Atonement
38. Not This Time
Born and based in Sydney, Australia James Shuar, better known as Luminist, got his start in the music business as an advertising jingle writer in London during his 20s. Having spent between 5 and 6 years as a chorister in the St Andrew’s Cathedral Choir in Sydney during his childhood, Shuar imbues his productions with the harmonic structures present in church music. The producer went on to release two original EPs, namely Simulations and Infinity Mirrors. In addition, he scored the 2017 animated short Jumpy and released his single ‘Plastic Sea’ under Mechanical Records in 2021. He draws inspiration from Rival Consoles, Steve Reich, and Jon Hopkins.