Listen to This Saxophone Quartet Cover of “Lost Woods” from Ocarina of Time
Posted on July 07 2024 by John Lortie
Ocarina of Time’s soundtrack is fitting for the game that transitioned Zelda from top-down gameplay to polygonal adventure. It featured wonderful new compositions as well as returning motifs from the Zelda games that came before it, bridging old and the new. The game’s title track featured the melody heard when playing the Recorder in the original Legend of Zelda, and the piece that would come to be “Zelda’s Lullaby” was first heard in A Link to the Past. Since A Link to the Past introduced a unique music for the Lost Woods, one might expect Ocarina to repurpose the existing theme. Yet, Nintendo went with something else: a track befitting the playful and creepy Skull Kids populating the forest. The new Lost Woods theme in Ocarina of Time was upbeat and danceable.
Saxophone quartet S4X keeps the boogie of the Lost Woods theme alive with its cover of the tune. In S4X’s arrangement of the piece, one saxophone carries the melody at a time while the rest keep the jaunty harmony and rhythm loved by Ocarina’s Darunia. I find the quartet’s rendition to be as infectious as the original Nintendo 64 song.
S4X’s “The Lost Woods/Saria’s Song” was part of the quartet’s 100 Days of S4X!, which ran from March 1st to June 8th, 2024. The series saw S4X post a short cover from a video game, movie, or TV show daily for over three months. “Throne Room,” a cover track from Star Wars Episode IV, was the final 100 Days of S4X! video.
Those interested in hearing more from S4X can keep up with the Los Angeles-based quartet on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, and X.
What do you think of S4X’s Lost Woods theme? Are you planning on checking out the rest of their 100 Days of S4X!? What Zelda music would you want to hear covered by the quartet? Head down to the comments and let us know!
Source: S4X
John’s been a Zelda fan since he was seven years old (which was a good few decades ago). He loves the last three months of the year, analog media, his family, and Tolkien. His favorite Zelda game is Breath of the Wild and his favorite game is Night in the Woods.
