Level with Emily Reese

Anna Ahnlund talks about her solo albums Lackmuspapper (2018) and Omnejd (2014). You can hear her talk about the band Dina Ögon in Part 1 . Music in the episode comes from Lackmuspapper, Omnejd and  År , although there's an excerpt of Dina Ögon's remake of 'År' from the Dina Ögon album Oas. 00:00 Varmare 7:22 Allting som är gott är dåligt 14:17 Galopp 18:08 Dina Ooord 21:58 Horizont 23:51 Luft 26:...

Anna Ahnlund talks about the band Dina Ögon , whose new album Människobarn is out on 6 Feb 2026; in Part 2 , she talks about her solo albums Lackmuspapper (2018) and Omnejd (2014). The music in Part 1 is from Dina Ögon's new album Människobarn unless noted otherwise. 00:00 Margaretas sång 04:11 Människobarn 07:22 Du tappa dä 10:00 Margaretas sång 14:22 Dålig teve 16:08 Hack i häl 18:05 Kalaset - A...

Composer Lennie Moore  wrote such gorgeous music for Outcast - A New Beginning  that it made me mad, no exaggeration. It's so pleasing harmonically with fantastic melodies and transitions, and outstanding musicianship from the soloists and performers. Live choir, live soloists, live orchestra - and you can tell. The music has breath and life. Come chat with us on Discord  about game music, and see...

We're so happy to have Zac Tiessen  back on Level to talk about a new project he worked on with his fine artist brother, Josh Tiessen ! Zac wrote music for a series of paintings called Vanitas + Viriditas . You can hear the music here  (and elsewhere). It's really gorgeous music, with outstanding live performers like singer Julie Elven , the Budapest Scoring Orchestra  and more. Come chat with us...

We loved having bandleader and drummer/percussionist Dom Palombi back to talk about his new album, Dom Palombi's Game Night! Vol. 2 . There are about twice as many musicians on this album than on Vol. 1, with what Dom describes as more personal track choices than before. The musicianship is just beyond measure, and it's a fun, adventurous, delightful, funky romp through some great tunes. The three...

Composer Chase Bethea talks about his music for Stardander: School for Witches , a Harry potter-esque narrative turn-based battle adventure game where you learn spells and solve mysteries. The music is mysterious at times, with winding melodies and unexpected instrumentation. His mom sings too, which is great! You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord . Find this conversatio...

Composer Thomas Brunet talks about his absolutely stunning music for Chants of Sennaar in this episode. We love how spontaneous the music sounds, and the colorful, creative instrument palette. In addition to the wonderful music, Thomas and I talk about a new graduate program he's created for music and sound design in Bordeaux, France, as well as his love for and knowledge of French literature. Com...

A little more than two years ago, Erik Desiderio was on Level to talk about music he'd written for Last Epoch , which was in early access at the time. Erik is back to talk about all of the music he's written for the game since we spoke in 2022. Also, Last Epoch is about to get its official release, and the Game Music Ensemble of UCLA is going to play Erik's music from the game live, with Erik cond...

This is such gorgeous music by Dale North for Astral Ascent . Fully orchestral (a mix of real and samples), lush and full - and sometimes it ascends! Like the game!    Definitely check out the conversation Sam and I had about it on Next Level .    Come chat with us on Discord about game music, and see the video of my conversation with Dale North on the Level with Emily YouTube channel .   PLAYLIST...

I loved talking with Terence and Janice so much about their wonderful music for such a fabulous game. The music for Tunic is a glorious blend of synths and acoustic piano, with waves of (often) consonant sound. Plus, you get to play as an adorable fox! Terence and Janice live in Taiwan so I got to learn a bit about that tropical island too, and got to meet some cats which always brings a smile! Yo...

Composer Jon Everist 's music for The Lamplighters League is a great blend of noir and adventure. The soundtrack paints such a perfect picture of the vibe of the game (which is a turn-based tactics game). So many wonderful solos and soloists, with an orchestra recorded live at Abbey Road Studios, and they all sound fantastic! Also, I swear I know what a trombone sounds like. Or I used to think I d...

It's always a joy catching up with composer Cris Velasco ! This time around, we chat about his epic music for Lords of the Fallen , a souls-like action RPG with plenty of boss battles. He also clues me into another one of his recent scores, for a game called Fae Farm , He and I will talk more about that in a future episode, because it's delightful. Also couldn't be more different than his music fo...

Composer Tom Salta talks about his extremely frightening music for The Outlast Trials , the third installment of the Outlast series. It's always a joy to have Tom on, and I manage to learn something new every time we talk! You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord for free. Find this conversation on YouTube and Twitter . Patrons have access to exclusive merch, Discord events...

During our Next Level discussion about this very episode, our friend Sacha counted up how many times we've had Jason Graves on an episode of Level, and Level's friend, Top Score. Six times on Top Score, six times on Level, and this marks the 13th ep dedicated to his music. Best part is, we know there will be many more! This time, it's all about battle royale and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II DLC...

Composer Steve Pardo got to write music for one of the most musically famous franchises of all time in Cypher 007 , the newest game from James Bond. And it's great! I love how the soundtrack fits seamlessly into the fabric of the stealthy Apple Arcade game. Steve and I talk about how neat that is, how great John Barry's original music is and a lot more in this week's chat. You can support Level wi...

Composer Ross Tregenza is back for a deep dive into the music and sound he created and composed for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . We also talk about his music for Deathloop , which earned him a BAFTA nomination, and his ubiquitous music in Cyberpunk 2077 . I love every minute of all of it. And I loved talking with Ross about these projects, including his industrial band Goteki . Hot tip, all of t...

Voice actor Morla Gorrondona has created some iconic characters in games, from Eris Morn in Destiny 2 to Naafiri in League of Legends . It's such a pleasure to hear her talk about her process of creating a new person or creature for a game. You'll hear samples of her acting in the show. Yay!  You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord for free. Find this conversation on YouTu...

Composer Darren Korb 's music for Hades properly beloved. It's a great blend of metal with acoustic Mediterranean instruments to take you through the deep story of the game. Darren adds his voice acting talents to the game as well, voicing the main character, Zagreus, and the training dummy, Skelly. Hades is one of my favorite rogue-lite dungeon crawlers, and the music is the best.  Darren and I h...

The original Xbox launched on November 15, 2001. The person largely responsible for how audio worked in that original Xbox and what the Xbox would “sound” like was Brian Schmidt . We’ve had Brian on the show in the past, most recently to talk about Game Sound Con, which he runs in LA every October. In the late 1990s, Brian was working for Microsoft and began working on the Xbox right away as he’ll...

It's always a fascinating discussion with composer Maclaine Diemer . In this episode, we talk about Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure , the newest expansion in the MMORPG. The last time he was on Level to talk about Guild Wars 2, we spoke of the End of Dragons expansion. Maclaine's music for End of Dragons was heavily influenced by Korean traditional music (called gugak) with synth undertones....

It's been far too long since we had composer David Housden on the show. Last time, we talked about Thomas Was Alone and Volume . David's music for Disney Illusion Island is quite different from those scores, as you'd expect. Complete with cartoon humor and sweeping melodies, it fits perfectly. The game is a multiplayer platformer/Metroidvania and it is SO. FUN!! I highly recommend it, as much as I...

This is Part Two of my chat with scntfc / Andy Rohrmann about his music for Oxenfree and Oxenfree II: Lost Signals . And it's another episode packed with music and back stories. We can't wait to have Andy on the show to talk about more music in the future! You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord for free. Find this conversation on YouTube and Twitter . Patrons have access...

Oxenfree and Oxenfree II: Lost Signals are fantastic games with phenomenal music. The games are scored by scntfc , a.k.a. Andy Rohrmann. And I can't ever get enough of Andy's music. I love these games so very much, from the art and story to the music. If you haven't spent time listening to these scores, treat yourself . You can support Level with Emily on Patreon . Join us on Discord for free. Fin...

Composer Doyle Donehoo wrote a fantastic score for the newest game in the Alien franchise, called Aliens: Dark Descent . His music shares several hallmarks but is uniquely his music, and his fandom for this franchise runs so deep it comes off as a gorgeous, if not appropriately creepy, love letter. Doyle saw the first film, Alien, in the theater in 1979. I've told many friends about the story of h...

Composer Wilson Brown is part of an audio studio called Antfood , and the studio is responsible for the delightfully chill soundtrack for the Minecraft-esque roguelite, Let's! Revolution! One of my favorite parts of the soundtrack is the percussion - a lot of organic sounds, like body percussion, Latin, South American and other world instruments, mixed with synthetic samples. It's a cold drink on...