Matt Furniss – Atari ST Works

Matt Furniss – Atari ST Works, 1990-1992

Many computer game soundtracks of the 1980s and early 1990s consist of only a single longer cue, sometimes accompanied by a few shorter pieces and jingles. As such, these scores do not really warrant individual reviews, even when the music itself is of outstanding quality. It therefore makes more sense to bring together several such soundtracks by the same composer in a single review.

Part of the ecosystem of European – and especially British – home computers was that games were usually released across a wide range of platforms, including the C64, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, PC, Amstrad CPC and Acorn 32-bit, obviously in order to maximise market presence and sales. Because of the technological differences between these systems, they also tended to feature different soundtracks – or rather, one score ported and adapted to each platform. That was the situation developer Krisalis Software, previously trading as Teque Software Development, and its in-house composer Matt Furniss found themselves in during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Retrospective assessments of Furniss’ work usually focus on his scores for the Amiga and Sega Genesis, and for good reason given his mastery of those platforms’ audio capabilities. However, his music for other systems also deserves attention. According to interviews, Furniss’ first home-computer love was not the Amiga but the Atari ST – at least as a machine for playing games. He was less enthusiastic, however, about the Atari ST’s abilities as a stand-alone audio platform: “[the] Atari ST’s built-in sound hardware was quite weak, other than the included MIDI ports. It was a very basic sound chip even for 1985.” That view mirrors the opinion of many game-music fans, who tend to place Atari ST music at least a step, and often several, below the Amiga or C64.

However, several of Furniss’ compositions for Atari ST games are in fact first-rate chiptune works: substantial pieces full of carefully developed melodies, intricately shaded moods and displays of technical bravado. Two of his finest cues written for the platform headline sports games. Manchester United Europe (1991) benefits from a pumping rhythm livelier than the beat of its predecessor, Manchester United. A taut, forceful groove drives a bouncy melody whose timbre keeps changing in inventive ways, while gurgling arpeggios fill the gaps between notes and lend the cue a surprisingly lush sound. It is an energetic, consistently enjoyable track – just listen to that cheeky, persistent bass riff – yet one that still ebbs and flows with natural ease.

Jahangir Khan World Championship Squash (1990) may depict a less widely followed sport, but it receives an equally strong title theme from Furniss. Like Manchester United Europe, it is an upbeat composition, though its lively surface leaves room for more breakdowns and directional shifts, some of which even give the piece a faintly science-fiction flavour when the harmonised leads become wispy and echoing. Even so, the cue’s overall brightness still suits the sports-simulation context. Its ambitious song structure allows constant returns to a main melody with clear pop appeal, and there is a sense of dynamic contrast here that is missing from the technologically superior Amiga version. This is music that never stands still.

Lords of Chaos, a 1990 RPG score for Mythos Games, takes that compositional ambition a stage further. Perhaps in keeping with the title, Furniss’ music feels Gothic and eerie, almost progressive-rock-like in the adventurousness of its construction. Lords of Chaos constantly ducks and weaves, forcing unusual rhythms and melodies into heady collisions. It is a dazzling display both of assured songwriting and of technical virtuosity, one that extracts the maximum from the Atari ST’s limited sound hardware. From its ominously tolling opening figure onwards, the cue conveys a convincing sense of scale – and the fact that it never loses that quality despite all the joyfully eccentric ideas Furniss throws into the mix is something close to a miracle.

Revelation, by contrast, is a more modest and focused piece. Its mood is not altogether different from Lords of Chaos, though the music is more straightforward and more driven, beginning with the swaggering groove of its opening. Particularly interesting is the moment around 1:30 when the track suddenly shifts into a faster tempo, reprising the same melody whose already snappy contours now prove even more effective. Furniss creates a twitchy, nervous energy that keeps the cue airborne and suits the game’s status as a puzzler – presumably signalling the point at which things start getting tight and frantic.

It is not hard to see what sets Shadoworlds apart from Furniss’ other Atari ST works. The composition runs for a full nine minutes without looping. Like Lords of Chaos, it offers a wealth of ideas, but unfolds them at a far more deliberate pace. Scored like an intergalactic dungeon crawler, Shadoworlds is intriguing from the outset. Its opening motif swings wildly between the stereo channels, while a subterranean bass drone prepares the ground for the slow, sinister beat dominating the first half. Furniss offsets the arid repetition of his melodic material by giving it a lush sound through harmonised leads, creating a captivatingly sombre atmosphere. The second half ventures further into the upper register and occasionally even radiates a sense of optimism – but only until the bright closing melody cruelly disintegrates into dissonance. It is a stunning demonstration of just how evocative and inventive Atari ST music could be.