Floex :: Papetura Soundtrack (Minority)

Whereas before we heard two bold creatives combining two distinct styles, this time it’s one creative producing a soundtrack focused on a tangible game world. A soundtrack that leaps between depth and fragility.

A soundtrack focused on a tangible game world

Floex has created a soundtrack to a video game that has been built from scratch by paper. Yes—every inch of the game that is visible was built in paper form. The game is called Papetura and is designed by developer Tomasz Ostafin, who built everything over half a decade using paper. Ostafin built the game world by using paper first, applied lighting, took photographs, processed them in Photoshop and then placed everything into a video game engine. An interview back in December, 2020 details his painstaking development process. I’ll ask the obvious question—imagine how much time crafting this game took? I’d bet thousands of hours as an answer. The result is a tangible world which appears easily destroyed, made fragile by how it has been crafted by using paper.

Craft is something Floex is used too. His live sets star the automatised Josef the Robot, built to play punchy rhythms during live sets. Craft can also be heard in how he’s blended musical styles together. Recently, Floex worked with the orchestral composer Tom Hodge on the album A Portrait of John Doe, where we heard his unconventional electronica merge with the contemporary style of Hodge’s orchestra. In this video game soundtrack, Floex has left off from where he was with A Portrait of John Doe, combining his electronica with orchestral styles—except now, it’s far more gentle. Whereas before we heard two bold creatives combining two distinct styles, this time it’s one creative producing a soundtrack focused on a tangible game world. 

Floex stated that Papetura’s soundtrack should be “something very fragile, simple, deep and more abstract than usual,” which is a contradictory remark. How can something be simple and abstract at the same time? Yet, this statement reflects Floex’s state of mind. He’s created a soundtrack to express the tension between these elements in the statement above. This tension is found in the example of paper, it was revolutionary as a technology but so easily destroyed.

Floex’s blend of style between electronica and orchestra is beautifully crafted.

Fragility is reflected throughout Papetura’s soundtrack. It is hopeful and bright in points but dark and gloomy in others. Floex blends strings, zheng harp, and ukulele with piano melodies, electronic drums and sequences. “Papetura Intro” is uplifting, as strings rise brightly in tone. Track two in contrast, “The Light,” contains very delicate piano sequences, tinged with sadness and a dramatic brooding ambience. Third track “Branches” is gentle and up-lifting, focused around a circular piano melody. “Hollow” has a dark ambient opening with strings rising in pitch—in its centre there is a gentle, fragile sounding piano melody. Floex described the soundtrack’s central piece “In Prison” as his darkest of the soundtrack. True, it begins with a deep rumble of bass, then followed with minor interval notes played by the strings. As this is happening, discordant bells wail on top of the strings, as Floex captures the mood distinctly here. Indeed, this is some of the darkest, most serious stuff we’ve heard the Czech producer create. The latter part of the album eases up. “Cave Pond” is slow in pace, heavy in ambience, making for a gentle and sombre atmosphere. “The Edge Of Light” is purely an ambient piece, with bright atmospheric sounds and orchestral strings ringing in harmony. “Pape And Tura” contains a piercing piano melody, one that is urgent and serious in tone. Final track, “Chambers” ends the soundtrack in ambience. It is gentle yet mysterious, as tense plucked strings carry tension all the way through.

Because of Floex’s focus on ambience, Papetura’s soundtrack may not be as accessible as his other soundtracks and in particular, as accessible as Machinarium. The ambience in Papetura, while fitting, is not as recognizable as a Floex production. The Czech producer is usually far more playful, quirky and dare I say it fun. Here, Floex sounds much more measured, dark and serious—perhaps a reflection of the theme of fragility but also a sign of the times too, with the pandemic sweeping across Europe during his composition period. Yet, Floex’s blend of style between electronica and orchestra is beautifully crafted. It’s as if the experience he’s had while working with Tom Hodge has made him understand how to blend strings with electronic music in a patient style. What we have here is Floex’s most mellow work, reflecting the goal he set out to achieve, a soundtrack that leaps between depth and fragility.

Papetura Soundtrack is available on Minority. [Bandcamp | Buy the game]