ARMORED CORE VI - Contact With You on Piano (Balteus Theme) 

Theory Breakdown Just like we saw in my writeup on Steel Haze (Rusted Pride), there are a lot of interesting things going on in the Armored Core VI harmonic language that all take place primarily within the Aeolean mode. This takes advantage of tried and true chord progressions found all throughout rock, pop, and metal, to elicit our emotions with confidence. However, there is something awesome about the way Kota Hoshino architects the songs to make them more vague and ambiguous harmonically. The main technique I like to call "obfuscation of the i'. This means making it so that the natural 'return to home' feeling that our ears expect is continually denied or diluted. This obscures the underlying chord progressions despite them having a common diatonic origin, and also gives a sense of continuation to the track. It makes us feel like we are floating or flying in midair and that the battle will never end because there is not as much release of the tension in the music. Here are 4 ways that 'obfuscation of the i' is manifested in this track: 1. Inversion of another chord: When the i is expected (E minor in this song), instead play the bVI in 1st inversion (C/E). The root is the same, but the chord does not feel stable as it's lacking that root-5th stability. This ends up looking like an E minor chord, but with b6 C instead of 5th B. 2. Inversion of the i: Playing the i in first or second inversion creates ambiguity and complexity in the harmony, and doesn't feel as settled or 'at home' as the i in root position. 3. Orient the chord progression around a chord other than the i but the i is included: Here Kota Hoshina takes a 'Lydian-infused' approach, starting and ending each 4 bar phrase with the bVI chord Cmaj. For example, Cmaj7 - D7 - E - C. It revolves around the bVI, not the i. In a minor key, the bVI chord has a lydian sound (E aeolean is enharmonic to C lydian) so that's why I bring that up. The #4 of C is leaned on heavily (F# in this song) to provide a yearning and hopeful sound. 4. Simply avoiding the i altogether in the progression, and doing a rotation of other chords in the key. With that in mind, let's get started taking a look at some of the chord progressions going on in this song. Many of them look kind of similar (and like familiar rock progressions) on paper but each have at least one or two important differences worth studying. Phase 1 0:54: Cmaj7 - Dadd9 - E/B - C bVI - bVII - i - bVI This chord progression starts and ends with the bVI chord, revolving around that as 'home base' rather than the i chord which we see more frequently used as home. And equally interesting is the use of the i in second inversion, obscuring its function and quality. The notes of the E minor chord are the same, but placing them over a B in the bass makes it feel really unstable and uncentered. If you don't want to be too 'obvious' about landing on the i, it can be very effective to play an inversion of the i like this. It adds a lot of depth to the harmony. On it's own, it's hard to imagine how the chord might be used since it sounds pretty weird but it sounds fantastic within this progression since our ears are expecting the i right after the bVII, only to get a distorted version of it instead. 1:18: C - D - C/E - C When we arrive at the C/E, we hear that bold and expected root note of E. However, there is a spice to it - instead of what our ears expect, there is a C note instead of the instead of the B we expected as the 5th of E minor, ringing loud and clear in the upper registers. The first inversion of C is only one note off from an E minor chord, but the difference is very noticeable to our ears. Because of this, technically this is a chord progression that doesn't actually include the i - it's obfuscated. 01:31: C - D7 - C/E - C C - D7 - Em - C A really wonderful part of obfuscating the i over and over again is that when it's finally brought in at full force with no inversions it has immense impact. The Emin in root position here has immense power when it comes in, as our ears are expecting the modified C/E but instead the dissonance/ambiguity is removed and we get a clear Emin chord. I really love the effect this has, especially when used with restraint like Kota Hoshino does in this song. Only occasionally granting the listeners' ears the i chord which they have been trained to expect is very effective in a boss/combat theme because it doesn't allow that satisfying hoem-base releasem, creating unending tension in the music. Phase 2 One thing interesting to note is that the entire phase 2 is in 7/8, which I thought was really cool for an electronic-style track like this. This adds a bit of tension and rhythmic intrigue throughout the entire second half of the song. The quiet phase 2 build has some really nice harmony going on. It's kind of hard to hear in the track because it's very soft, blended, and chaotic, but it's there. 02:08: Fmaj7#11(3x) - C/F Bm/E - Em9 - Cmaj7 - Cmaj7#11 3 concepts here: The upper extensions are of course wonderful, especially that maj7 and #11 over the Fmaj and the 9 over Em, a timeless classic. That move from C/F to Bm/E. An easier way to think of this is a move from Fmaj9 to Em9, but the thirds are missing. These types of thirdless slash chords are also really common in jazz and additionally in Steely Dan's music :) These chords have a totally different sound when you leave out the third. I don't want to use the word ambiguous again.. but I have to here. It also sounds more open and airy. When you are composing or jamming with with maj9 or min9 chords, consider just playing a triad starting on the 5th of the chord and leaving out the third (like C/F). The move itself is interesting because it has chromatic movement embedded within, and is non-diatonic to any key. However, it's used all the time especially in Japanese video game music. It can be viewed as the bII chord moving down to the i. The bII chord is a modal interchange chord substitution from the Phrygian mode. Yuka Kitamura especially likes to use this. 02:51: Em - D - Cmaj#11 - C Em7 - D7 - Cmaj#11 - C This is a bit more standard, nothing too spicy going on here. But it's important to see that at exactly the climax of phase 2, Kota Hoshino chose to ditch the 'i obfuscation' and start the progression right on E minor without hiding it. The reason this feels so strong is because it's happening in comparison to the more ambiguous and vague harmony present in the rest of the piece. It's a cool composition idea, to only really deliver that easy-listening and strong rock progression at the most intense part of the music. I love the addition of the seventh chords too, really adds depth to the harmony in a completely different way than was achieved before. 3:34: Esus2 - B7sus4/F# - Emaj - Fmaj7 Em - B7sus4/F# - Emin9 - Fmaj7#11 I really like the outro here, especially for the inclusion of the E major chord. It adds a brightness and finality to the track, an unexpected little twist at the end when our ears would expect something in the key of E minor. I love this type of chord substitution, it can be thought of as modal interchange with the E major mode. That B11sus4/F# chord's name sounds complicated, and there are a variety of ways to look at it, but I think this is the most apt name for it. It is functioning as an ambiguous V chord in my opinion, but with a suspended 4th and in second inversion. It's a dressed up and obscured version of the V. This follows along with the same theme we've been seeing throughout the track, where Kota Hoshino adds depth/ambivalence/obscurity to the song through use of various inversions. Thank you so much for reading this far, I hope you were able to learn something from this or simply just find it interesting/fun to read. I am always happy to discuss music theory or answer questions on these types of topics in my Discord server. Until next time!

Ngl I didn’t expect much because it just sounded so difficult to me to transfer this OST to the piano. Guess I was wrong because this is amazing.

Everyone calls this Balteus' theme, but to me it fits more as Ayre's theme. That ethereal tone and the constant runs really tie in with the mysticism the game builds around her, and the main melody shifted to 7/8 in phase 2 feels like Raven and Ayre finally synching up and just cutting loose on whatever's unlucky or stupid enough to end up in their way. The fact that it also plays during the first half of the 'Eliminate 'Cinder' Carla' mission only cements that even more.

this hits different ;-;

Absolutely and insanely cool to hear this arranged on piano. Arpeggios intensify.

oh my god you HAVE to do Rough and Decent please i need the jazz injected directly into my eyeballs

And it's out! I love love love this one! It sounds amazing, arpeggios and arps and all :) The sheet music looks great too, can't wait to give it a try!

Wonderful take on this song! Edit : I just noticed your music theory breakdown comment, incredible work!

Very slow but imagine armored core becomes armored souls. It's so different but it's somewhat reminiscent. I don't play much piano but side by side, its there.

Yesss, so glad to finally see this here! Deffo a personal favorite track of mine from the game, and the arrangement really turned out fantastic; the original remains recognizeable, but some liberties were taken to make this feel more natural which I like. Also, theory breakdowns! :D Out of the remaining candidates, I'm dying to hear Dragonslayer Armor next. 💙 And if you're open to the idea of covering other tracks from the Armored Core series, Coral Guardian from VI or Dirty Worker from Verdict Day would be some recommendations!

I'd love to see your rendition of "The Man Who Passed the Torch". Thank you again for all your videos!

God bloody damn this is fantastic. It’s genuinely always such a highlight to see whenever you upload. Stunning arrangements with really insightful theory breakdowns and sharing of passions is just excellent. Love your work.

My absolute favorite theme in the entire game! Nice cover, as always!

That was beautiful. Somehow it perfect encapsulates how Ayre's character feels to me .

at 2:09 it feels like the sky opened up. Hearing the song this way adds a strange dimension to the lore through imagination

please make phase2 30 minute Extend!!

Hey man, I really appreciate you doing all these video game OSTs and analysis! Very unique

Ngl, I think it sounds better this way lol… just hits harder in piano form for me, as someone who did like the original even. Also, you ever look into the music of earlier generations of AC?

Wonderful composition yet again, you have talent thats for sure Not to pressure or anything but, any plans for the Disk 3 tracks?

You know you did it right when it gives me the same goosebumps I got while playing AC6!

I listened to this yesterday, but didn't leave a comment at the time because this have been kind of rough for me personally, but this is fantastic! A surprisingly simple, yet effective piece. Definitely my favorite from the game, and you've done a great job adapting it to the piano, which isn't easy because of the random arpeggios in the original! Great work!

Oh right comments are good for the algorithm lol I've been listening to this a lot and have nothing new to add aside from it's awesome but comments help this get spread around so here's mine!

Its so nice that there is someone making arrangements of Amored core 6 themes. Thx

Absolutely beautiful, evokes alot of emotions of trying and failing until succeeding against pre nerf Balteus. Been waiting for this since listening to your Steel Haze Rusted Pride piece. Keep up the amazing work!

This hits hard at 2× Speed!

Gave me goosebumps

Holy cow... this is brilliant. This piece is giving me some feelings of constant hope. Really great job✌🏻.

Very nice arrangement!

Song request! AC6 the man who passed the torch (just the 2nd half lol)

This is very impressive! Thank you for your hard work!

still waiting for an allmind cover

can you do allmind next?🥺

Nice

I dont know what to say anymore, amazing.

Wait until you find the music from the older games

Loved this

Man, this is absolutely amazing

PERFECT! Regards from Brazil.

Thank you so much for the sheet music! This sounds amazing, and it gets better on each listen

Oh hell yeah

That was... beautiful.

AMAZING