Several short pieces for your ears, with the intension to convey the dark and horrific atmosphere and emotions sympathised with the Vietnam war. Each piece symbolises a significant theme of the war. The only musical objective of the pieces were for them to be compatible with games and films. Part of the idea was to not give myself any boundaries whilst producing the pieces and explore different styles in the hope to set myself apart from others material with similar context and to hopefully broaden my skills and understanding of making ambient music.

My Musical and Contextual inspirations come projects such as: “The Vietnam War - Ken Burns”, Call Of Duty Black Ops, We Were Soldiers, Full Metal Jacket, Casualties Of War, Good Morning Vietnam, Hamburger Hill and Platoon. Most of my research has been focused on the context of the war, the stories and tributes and not so much the music as not be influenced too much. 

I found through exploring and experimenting with different instruments that I much preferred the use of strings and drums mainly over any other instruments because of the power, tense and emotional dynamic they presented. 

The reason for choosing the Vietnam War as a musical theme was for many reasons. Firstly, I thought it was a great opportunity to create new content for as I’ve always felt as though there are missed opportunities in films and games showcasing the vietnam war where there could have been better music to convey the atmosphere and emotion of the war, soldiers and people. After watching many of the documentaries surrounding the war and understanding more of the context behind it, I felt almost obliged as a creative to capture everything I understood about it through music as a commemoration of art to those who lived through it and its historical significance.

7. Shangri - Death

Rowan Wolfgang