Quick Beats: Celeste Composer Lena Raine On Her Love For Ghibli, Hurdy-Gurdies, And Her Cat

Throughout the Nintendo Life Video Game Music Festival we’ll be speaking to a range of composers and musicians with a mixture of in-depth interviews and shorter, sharper (and perhaps a little goofier) Q&As where we ask just ten rapid-fire personal questions; we’re calling these shorter features ‘Quick Beats’.

Today’s interviewee is composer and performer Lena Raine, whose enchanting music can be found in games like Celeste, Minecraft, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, and the upcoming Earthblade.

Read on to find out about Lena’s (slightly) embarrassing first album, her favourite piece that she’s written, and most importantly, a picture of her very cute cat.

Nintendo Life: What was the first song or album you remember buying?

Lena Raine: Oh no, it’s an embarrassing one. I took my dad to the record store to buy Dookie by Green Day, not because I wanted that album, but because I’d heard a song on the radio that I liked. The song was actually It’s The End Of The World by R.E.M., but the DJ read the song titles out of order so I thought it was by Green Day. I’d not heard much of them before, but it’s what I wrote down, so we put the tape on in the car on the way home & it was 100% not R.E.M. Anyway I still liked the album though.

What was the last music you listened to?

I just put on the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind soundtrack while waking up yesterday. It’s incredible how well it still holds up and inspired other composers (myself included).