I think I did a pretty good job not posting about Persona 5 for a while. I should get a medal or something. If we’re being honest, I could do a post about a track from this game for a good four months before running out of songs that I thought were great or interesting or thematically appropriate.

This is Ark, from the next-to-last dungeon in the game. No spoilers here, but it’s an outstanding track for a few reasons. One, it sounds good — it’s got just the right amount of drama for what really is the most elaborate and important dungeon in P5 (the final one is pretty drab, despite the higher stakes). Two, it fits the mood perfectly. The dungeon takes place on a magnificent and opulent ship, with sprawling hallways and hundreds of REALLY ANNOYING STATUE PUZZLES. There’s also a strong undercurrent in the motif about government, and power, and who gets to be in control. Ark sounds almost like the national anthem for a new country that might be created under whichever side emerges from this quarrel victorious.

What’s especially cool about this dungeon is that you also get a slow piano version (the second song below). There’s a restaurant that has a slower, more pleasant take on Ark, and the two are a perfect counterbalance. Persona 5 does a great job with this trick, as mentioned in the Rivers in the Desert post: using different versions of the same song to convey alternate meanings. There’s a dozen or so tracks on the OST that utilize this, either through the addition of lyrics or new instrumentation that seems to fit the mood perfectly every time.

This music is cool. Check it out.

Ark

Music to My Ears covers soundtracks or individual songs from video games. You can view all posts in the series by clicking here.