Our Eternal Land (Epic Vocal Version) - Xenoblade Chronicles 2

How about something completely different? Here's a little sonic treat for your eardrums.

There's a special place in my heart for the human voice, and especially for the rich, 'crunchy' harmonies that characterize modern acappella arranging. It's a genuinely distinct art form from traditional choral writing. Classical choir arranging tends to prioritize clarity and blend: voices are spaced carefully across registers, dissonances are prepared and resolved, and the harmonic language generally follows the common-practice rules of voice leading that go back centuries.

Modern acappella, think contemporary collegiate groups, vocal jazz, or groups like Pentatonix and Naturally 7, throws a lot of that out the window in the best possible way. Arrangers lean into extended harmonies borrowed from jazz: major 7ths, flat 9ths, #11s, dense cluster chords that would make an 18th-century choirmaster wince. Dissonances aren't always resolved; they're often the destination. There's also a percussive, rhythmic element that traditional choral writing rarely touches, and voices are frequently used to imitate instruments rather than blend into a unified choral texture. The voice leading is still there, but it's serving a different master; groove and color rather than purity and transparency.

Anyway, just a little something for your ears. Hope you enjoy it.