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Death Stranding features a few songs from Icelandic rock band Low Roar, and it turns out that collaboration saved the band from a stroke of bad luck (via VG247).
Death Stranding won the award for Best Score/Music and was nominated for the award for Best Audio Design at The Game Awards 2019. Its soundtrack is an eclectic mix of indie dirges and sounds from Home Depot’s catalogue, swelling and surging as hero Sam Porter-Bridges makes his way across what was the United States. The beating heart of the cinematic set pieces creator Hideo Kojima scatters across the landscape, the auteur chose each track with care and meticulosity. “I try to be connected to the actors, film directors, authors, artists, and musicians I personally like,” said Kojima in an interview last year. “The way I select the music or artists is based on trust I establish with them. The natural connection (strand) I have with these people makes it possible to work together.”
Back in 2016, Low Roar were astonished when they were contacted by Sony, as it was one glimmering light in a stroke of bad luck for the band. They were in dire straits, and recorded a lot of their music on a laptop in frontman Ryan Karazija’s kitchen. “Sony contacted us in an obscure email offering us a certain amount of money to use the song ‘I’ll Keep Coming’, and they were not willing to tell us what they’re going to use the song for,” said Karazija to VG247. “At that time we were in a gutter so we accepted it. And it turned out it was for Death Stranding.”
Kojima had been following the band for a while, and had Low Roar’s album “0” on loop “almost daily.” The song “I’ll Keep Coming”, featured in Death Stranding’s first trailer, was a “perfect fit for the world of the game.” Kojima and Karazija got along like a house on fire too, with the latter describing the former as “sweet” and “a lovely man.” As a result of their collaboration, Low Roar has gained hundreds and hundreds of fans, and won’t need to record in kitchens any more.
Death Stranding is out now for PlayStation 4.
