Wolfstack Lights (for String Quartet)

Home waters. Zailors dawdle at the dock, watching for the lights of London.

Chamber Music from the Unterzee ( track 2 / 21 )

from the Sunless Sea video game soundtrack by Maribeth Solomon and Brent Barkman



arranged by Kelly Wong for string quartet ( violin i, violin ii, viola, cello ) –

( downloadable sheet music with parts, score ) ( listen )

post & track analysis down below!

Wolfstack Lights is one of my favorite tunes from Sunless Sea. Somehow it hits the trifecta of emotional impact: nostalgia, victory, joy. There’s something indescribable about limping back into London in a ship with more holes than people, belly full of valuable jewels and precious heirlooms, close to losing it all, and then–home.

I could go on about how Sunless Sea constantly makes me catch feelings, but I’m mostly here to cater to the niche-in-a-niche that are the classical chamber musicians of Fallen London, so that’s what I’m going to do. And anyways this track, like the entire soundtrack, is deceptively simple and warrants essay upon essay (most of which I am not qualified to write as a hobbyist high schooler but all of which I’m sure as hell gonna try anyways). So here we go.

the piece

The most crucial and beautiful thing about this piece is how lush all the harmonies are. In ‘Wolfstack Lights,’ composer Maribeth Solomon uses a lot of fifths–strong power chords that make you feel whole, almost, but they’re not necessarily the prettiest harmonies. It reminded me of Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, which I love to death, and whose repeated A-E or C-G motifs always felt fresh and nautical to me. I wonder if I was thinking about ‘Wolfstack Lights,’ whose introduction is D-A – another fifth. Someone please write me a paper on whether fifths actually have anything to do with ships and lighthouses and bullhorns or whether I just really like music with fifths.

I thought of this motif as a lighthouse in the dark; a beam of white stretching across a vast, dark ocean; a call that echoes on the cavern walls. It’s lonely but kind of peaceful, in a way. Nothing like that violent A-E leap that opens up the Clarke Viola Sonata.

And if that’s the call, here’s the answer. It’s a warm harmony echoed across the cello and second violin. (I would have given it to the viola but it was kinda preoccupied at the moment.) Between the solitary cry and its triple-chorded answer, I’m reminded of a reunion between friends. Not really like the sickeningly sweet catapulting-into-each-other’s-arms type thing in movies and such, but more like the warm-welcome-that-totally-respects-your-independence that’s so characteristic of the sweeter moments of Sunless Sea. Of course it’s bittersweet, because everyone knows as well as you do that you’re going to stop home, sleep, see your kid, and then load up with fuel and set off into the unknown the next day.

Deepest apologies for making you read things in 12/8. It was better than cluttering up a perfectly fine 4/4 passage with seventy billion triplets in the viola rhythm section. To be completely fair, I introduced 4/4 again in the bridge section (after chopping down the BPM by 40 and setting up a 65% eighth note swing) for ease of reading and because it marked a departure from the constant waves of triplets in the viola. You’re welcome. You should have seen the score before, when I didn’t realize writing in 4/4 would be easier for both of us. Not pretty. 12/8 is really elegant for writing triplets, but straight duplet rhythms are hell to deal with, and after going back to 12/8 for a whole three measures after the bridge I just stick with 4/4 again.

I kind of shafted the viola part in the first half, which sucks because I hate getting stuck with the boring background pizzicato part too, but I promise it’s paramount to the success of the piece and anyways the viola was the only instrument with the range that could produce it. Which isn’t something that happens often, so I savored it while I could. Sorry ™

But hey! Viola gets the simple, pretty solo at the end of the bridge so it’s not a total loss! In the original track it was for voice, and I guess violin could have done just as well, but I think the warmer timbre of the viola is better for that part (I’m biased). It needs to be warm and velvety, comforting, and the violin is too bright ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Couldn’t resist including a little note to not add a glissando there, because I totally would otherwise and it’s pretty much exactly what you don’t need in that particular section. It’s not a romantic solo or anything: think girl in pigtails in gingham dress in sunny day. Which is a really weird note to end this on but it’s 12:30 in the morning and i want to post this to Reddit already.