Congratulations, videogames. You’re high culture now. Jessica Curry, the composer behind Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, is bringing gaming to BBC Radio 3 with Sound Of Gaming, entering indie bops and orchestral jams into the station’s very-quite-serious musical collection later this month.
Radio 3, for those not accustomed to long car rides with the grandparents, are BBC Radio’s specialists in classical music. They’ve dabbled in gaming before, mind – I have distinct memories of a bewildered old disk jockey explaining what a Skyrim is to his audience. Curry’s own music has frequented classical stations like Radio 3 and Classic FM. This new show will follow a similar format to the BBC station’s similar dives into cinema and dance, going beyond their usual genre remit to cover “one of the fastest-growing musical movements today”.
The recurring four-part show wants to encompass a wide range of bangers from across the gaming scene, covering “lush orchestral scores to electronica, intimate chamber music to jazz and funk, and with music written for both small boundary-pushing indie games and the biggest studio blockbusters”.
Each week, listeners can expect a sit-down chat and a light musical sampling with composers from across the gaming soundscape. Banjo-Kazooie and Yooka-Laylee composer Grant Kirkhope is lined up for the first session, with Celeste’s Lena Raine and Vampyr composer Olivier Deriviere also confirmed for the initial run. Curry will occasionally take the show on the road during events like EGX and the Bafta Games Awards too.
Sound Of Gaming will also be taking calls for track suggestions. While I somehow doubt they’ll accept my requests to air an uninterrupted playthrough of Thumper’s violent bops, Radio 3 controller Alan Davey says he wants the show to “explore a broader range of gaming music than any other show like it”. Here’s hoping.
BBC Radio 3’s Sound Of Gaming hits the airwaves at 3-4 pm BST on October 26th.
