"The sun glows dimly, giving a warm yellow hue against the
turquoise clouds. It hasn't rained in months and the sky is only going to
become redder. It's pretty in its own weird way" - Pen Palz, 2013
Pen Palz is a game about finding your mom. I came across it through a different game,
SWOLLEN TO BURSTING. The developer behind STB created a fan OST
(that is now gone and not archived to my knowledge) for Pen Palz, and I learned
about the game through it. Pen Palz itself has no official OST outside of the few
tracks from The Unicorns and The Lumineers (I'm forgetting another band that was used).
STB itself has no major connection to Pen Palz, minus the use of some of the assets used
in Pen Palz, and (to my knowledge and memory) at least one of the tracks used in STB's OST
being a reworked version of a track that was used In the Pen Palz fan OST.
Please enjoy.
The tracks that were used in Pen Palz we're "Peach Moon" by The Unicorns, and "Music When the Lights Go Out" by The Lumineers. The game itself has very little sound design, as it wasn't meant to be anything long term, it is a very short game after all, and feels more like an art piece/interactive visual novel. My focus would shift away from the gameplay and to the tracks the second they broke the quietness of the game, they really stand out in the moment. The first one plays early on in the game, right after you leave your house in fact. Using "Peach Moon" as the first track to break the silence is perfect for setting the context of the rest of the game. The version of the track used is the older version released by The Unicorns, and has a more "raw" unfinished tone that really makes you feel this melancholic feeling that you can't ever seem to fully explain. Reading what other people have to say about the track (since most of the uploads of it are due to it being used in Pen Palz), many said it reminds them a lot about their childhood, specifically moments that left some sort of scar on them. Others form their own connection to the song, letting it mark a point or memory in their life. Yet, the main overlap still has to do with the warm, unsettling feeling the track does a wonderful job of creating. It's like an uncomfortable hug that you don't want to end, but don't want to be a part of either. With this in mind, it works perfectly with the saddening, unsettling introduction to the game that you just witnessed. The song is about a minute long, and I highly recommend it.
I won't spoil all of the game, I think it's something you should definitely check out yourself, but the final track to play in the game really does it justice. "Music When the Lights Go Out" is about a former relationship, but the lyrics in context of the substances used to hide the emotions of the subject in them paired with the ending of Pen Palz ties it all together. Small side note, while looking at the annotations to see what other people had to say about the track outside of Pen Palz (The Lumineers are popular so most of the discussion on the track is outside of this scope anyway), they contained a decade old argument between annotators with the majority speaking against the annotations that were first added by user "babe_dont_kill_me" who was VERY adamant that the track was about the band's split up. Song wise, "Music When the Lights Go Out" contains some really nice vocals and guitar. There isn't much I can say about British Rock, but it's a pretty solid song. Do I think it should have been replaced by something else in the game though? No, not at all. I think it does a good job as a final track.