The orchestral performance promises to be a stand-out of New York Comic Con nightlife

NEW YORK - Oct. 8, 2024 - PRLog -- BAFTA-nominated composer Andrew Prahlow will be taking the stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 17th, performing music from his award-winning Outer Wilds soundtrack, accompanied by a chamber orchestra. An open-world exploration game, Outer Wilds "finds new melodies within a familiar genre, and plays those notes masterfully" (Paste Magazine). This event comes on the heels of two nearly sold-out west coast performances and is sure to be an off-the-beaten-path highlight of New York Comic Con nightlife.

Described as "one of the most memorable musical experiences in video game history" (SPIN), and "hauntingly beautiful" (GameDeveloper.com), Prahlow's larger-than-life, emotive soundscapes emerged as an overnight cult phenomenon, with over 27 million streams on Spotify in the last year alone. His scores for Outer Wilds, Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye, and The Lost Reels have received widespread critical acclaim, including four Best Original Score nominations (BAFTA, SXSW, Golden Joystick Awards, Jerry Goldsmith Awards), two Best Game Music awards, and a G.A.N.G. Award for Best Indie Game Music.

Prahlow describes the concerts as a real-life reflection of the musical core of the game, saying: "Outer Wilds has had a profound effect on a lot of people — it's a really emotional, existential game about embracing the journey of life, even though death is inevitable. But it's a mystery, so once you solve it, it's over. You can only play it through once, and I think that's part of why the soundtrack means so much to people. It's a way to revisit the experience of being in that universe and whatever you discovered there." Prahlow continues, "It's a very music-driven game. The characters are all isolated on different planets, playing different instruments, and eventually you realize they're all playing different parts of the same song. For me, that's what music is all about — coming together as a community. That's why I decided to play the soundtrack live, so everybody could experience it in the same place, at the same time. Live music is important, even in gaming culture."

Prahlow began orchestrating the show after he was asked to adapt the track 'Timber Hearth' for the Metropole Orkest, an orchestra based in the Netherlands, to be performed during a tour showcasing video game soundtracks this past December. According to Prahlow, "After orchestrating 'Timber Hearth,' the rest of the show just came together for me. I figured out a way to approach playing the tracks live with an orchestra, without compromising any of the simplicity that forms the emotional backbone of the music." The show in New York City follows two on the west coast — San Francisco in March and Los Angeles in April. Fan response has been overwhelmingly positive. "Someone flew all the way from France to attend my show in San Francisco, and a fan from Venezuela just let me know they'd be flying over 10 hours to see my show in New York," says Prahlow. "It's been a dream-cometrue seeing how much people connect with the music at these live shows. Working on Outer Wilds was just such an important chapter of my life, and I'm so happy to be able to share this part of my heart with a group of people who truly understand it. I'm really looking forward to playing Music Hall of Williamsburg in October. I think it's going to be my best show yet."

Prahlow will be joined by Contemporaneous, a chamber orchestra ensemble based in New York City, whose mission is to bring to life transformative music by living composers. Hailed as "exact and detailed, but also lively and openly dancing" by The New York Times, Contemporaneous has premiered over 200 new works and has been presented by such institutions as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Opening up the set will be Vines, the solo project of composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Wieland. Vines masterfully experiments with intimate ambient and experimental pop sound worlds and was praised as "sweetly shimmering" by The New York Times. Her music has been featured on Stereogum, KEXP, New Sounds, The New York Times, and NPR, among others.

Tickets are $51 and are available for purchase at axs.com. For more information about Andrew Prahlow, please visit his website at andrewprahlow.com.