South of Midnight is an adventure game with art, mythology, and music rich enough to make Xbox owners happy that they invested in Microsoft’s tragically exclusive-light console. From Compulsion Games, South of Midnight follows Hazel Flood, a young woman who is swept along on a rescue mission as strongly as her mother is swept away by raging flood waters. Set in a fictionalized version of the American Deep South, South of Midnight draws on American lore and legend to spin a yarn that will enrapture fans of Tim Burton’s Big Fish or the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?

As is the case with the real American Deep South, South of Midnight has an incredibly rich and specific musical backdrop. Just about every South of Midnight boss or friendly, chapter-ending being has their own song, which plays at key story moments during Hazel’s travels. These songs, as well as the music cues that immerse players in the game’s unique world, exist thanks to French composer Olivier Deriviere.

ScreenRant interviewed Olivier Deriviere about his work on the game ScreenRant’s South of Midnight review called “A gorgeous Southern Gothic adventure”. Deriviere discussed his collaboration with game director David Sears, whose own Mississippi roots helped sell the composer on the idea that a French music-maker should bring a very American story to life. Plus, Deriviere explained how the game’s unique bosses necessitated very different kinds of musical numbers.

How South Of Midnight Became An American Musical Odyssey

And How Olivier Deriviere Became The Person For The Job

Olivier Deriviere had one main question when he was asked to score Compulsion Games’ exploration of American folklore: “I’m French. Why would you like me to do this music?” Deriviere was told that the point wasn’t authenticity–that instead, the goal was to “get inspired and create our own world, like Tim Burton or the Coen Brothers. The sort of fantasy that they’re very good at at Compulsion.” That did the trick, Deriviere said: “This is why I got involved.”

But Deriviere was soon to be thrown for yet another loop as creative director David Sears told him, “I don’t want music.” It’s a bold thing to tell a composer, but Deriviere recounted how it all made sense once he learned about Sears’ background and intention–and that perhaps “music” wasn’t a specific enough descriptor for what South of Midnight needed.

“David Sears was born in Mississippi, and he was raised there, [and] actually, the game is a reflection of his own life” Deriviere shared. He continued, saying “He was telling me about all the tradition of songs in the Deep South [and] how songs are key [for] everybody down there. The more he was saying things like this to me, the more it was obvious for me and the audio director, Chris Fox, [that] we need to have songs in this game.”

“We wanted to celebrate the Deep South’s tradition of songs in the game itself”

South Of Midnight’s Creatures Were The Inspiration For Its Songs

Olivier Brought Compulsion’s Lyrics To Life With Music

After grappling with how to include songs into South of Midnight, the game’s narrative structure–one in which Hazel encounters a new creature or two in each chapter–provided answers. “[Compulsion] wrote the lyrics and David [told] me about the different flavor he wanted to give to each song.” Because the denizens of South of Midnight’s world each had such different stories and personalities, the music combined and danced between genres like country, honkey-tonk, and gospel. “Everything became about the creatures.”

But the songs for South of Midnight’s creatures aren’t only heard once–they’re interpreted multiple different ways throughout each chapter. Players are guided through the world by lines of light called Strands, which Deriviere and co. decided should have a very specific sound element: “After discussions, we were like, ‘It could be voices you could hear.’” Those discussions led to the inclusion of a kids’ choir to create a sound that was “innocent [and] naive–it’s bright, it’s light, and it’s helping you.”

That was a perfect opportunity for Deriviere to take the first section of each chapter’s song and have the choir sing it “in a way that is a little bit different–or completely different.” Ultimately, said Deriviere, “you get the feeling of the song, but it’s not the actual song. It’s only at the end that you get the actual song.”

Star Wars’ Ahmed Best Was A Huge Part Of South Of Midnight

“He Gave It [His] All. It Was Just Amazing”

Ahmed Best has had something of a renaissance when it comes to his status in the zeitgeist. After his character Jar Jar Binks became the focus of a generation’s frustration about the Star Wars prequels, Best withdrew from the limelight. It’s fitting, then, that South of Midnight sees Best’s character Roux literally singing and dancing beneath stage lights. Best not only acts in the game, but is credited as a motion capture and vocal performance director.

Best’s vocal performance in South of Midnight is even more special considering he’s the only actor who is actually singing in the game. For the other creatures, singers were chosen carefully to reflect the timbre of the creatures’ voice actors when appropriate. “For instance, [with] Laurent and Rougaroux,” Deriviere shared, “the singer, Joey [Richey had to match Joel Steingold], the actor.” Sears was a big help for Deriviere in this respect: “He [helped] me with choosing the right singer [not just] in of the voice, but also the accent.”

About Best in particular, though, Deriviere had this to say: “There [is] this dance, and he needed to sing, and he gave it [his] all. It was just amazing. It’s [masterful.]”

South Of Midnight’s Interactivity Made For Musical Easter Eggs

Some Slower Players Might Find Themselves Rewarded

South of Midnight’s music is woven so tightly within its world that it can be easy to overlook how big of an undertaking its implementation was. “It’s two and a years of work. That’s how you do it,” said Deriviere when asked how those choices were made. “We know the process of writing music, but when it comes to the way we designed music in the game, it’s a new field.”

This necessitated some potential sacrifices, since songs weren’t going to play faster or slower based on player speed: “For instance, for [the sequence with] Benjy (“Benjy” on Deriviere’s South of Midnight album, which is one of three released from the game so far), if you go fast enough, [you don’t get] the first chorus, and one verse is off.”

But there’s a bright side: while speed demons will miss certain parts of Deriviere’s music, laid-back wanderers may actually hear more than the average player. “There [are] some Easter eggs,” Deriviere shared. With “Benjy” in particular, “You will hear piano at some point, if you wait long enough.”

Deriviere revealed another fun musical moment that’s worth exploring: “At the very beginning, you’re running after the trailer [floating in] the river, and there is the big orchestra and everything. But … if you stay a little bit, you will have three runs of jazz improv from the clarinet player.” The composer acknowledged that most players would miss moments like this–”it’s not the purpose of it”--but he did share that information with the clarinetist. “He was like, ‘Oh, this is my solo!’ and I was like, ‘It’s right there–if players wait long enough to get it.’”

Olivier Deriviere Reveals How Southern Music Was Made To Fit Big Action

The Composer Collaborated With Local Musicians To Blend Authenticity & Accessibility

The music of South of Midnight crosses rivers, state lines, and oceans–metaphorically and literally. An early-game sequence with Hazel’s trailer floating down the river is the perfect example, as the music is big enough for a blockbuster game, but stylistically closer to something one might hear in New Orleans. “At Abbey Road, the musicians were like, ‘It’s so different’,” Deriviere shared, continuing, “The recording engineer, John Kurlander, who recorded The Lord of the Rings and tons of stuff, said ‘This music is off the wall. I have no idea how it’s going to sound.’”

But Deriviere had his own musical knowledge and the lived experience of musicians from the American South, at his back. “We don’t want accuracy, but we want authenticity,” he said, “so it was like, ‘Let’s go to Nashville. Let’s go to New Orleans. Let’s go and find the right people over there.’” Even those musicians were intrigued–“All of them were like, ‘That’s so weird. I’m not used to doing things this way’,” said the composer–but they were excited nonetheless.

David Sears Had One Musical Request

And A Quirky Character Named Crouton Was The Perfect Fit

During the interview, Deriviere revealed the one thing game director David Sears absolutely insisted on, musically: a banjo. “We [hadn’t started] at all,” the composer shared, “and he’s like, ‘I will just oblige you to do one thing.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, what is that?’ ‘I want a banjo’--that’s the only thing he told me that [was] mandatory.”

Crouton–the adorably ugly doll that helps Hazel solve puzzles in tight spaces–was the answer. “When Crouton came into the picture, and it was David’s way of giving a sense of relief out of all this darkness, I was like, ‘That’s going to be the banjo. Crouton is the banjo.’ So, every time you go somewhere, you have the banjo going–and the banjo is playing the song [from that chapter].”

South of Midnight currently has three soundtrack albums available on digital platforms. Check out the nine-track song album South of Midnight, the music album South of Midnight (Original Game Soundtrack), and South of Midnight (Jams), featuring the game’s session musicians.

South of Midnight is available now on Xbox Series X/S and PC. For more about the game’s music, check out Olivier Deriviere’s YouTube.