Today, Scanlan Shorthalt Music has released a brand new album containing tracks from the incredibly popular Dungeons & Dragons Actual Play show Critical Role. Not long after the release of Welcome to Tal'Dorei from earlier this year, today fans can listen to Welcome to Wildemount, a musical exploration of the continent of Wildemount which the Mighty Nein call their home.
This product was led by Critical Role creative director and co-founder Marisha Ray, as well as senior producer Maxwell James. For Critical Role and James, the creation of Scanlan Shorthalt Music earlier this year "was an absolute dream come true!" as something that has been requested for so long, giving players at home the chance to get access to the tracks used in Critical Role for their own home games. The album Welcome to Wildemount will feature 20 tracks for a total runtime of over an hour. Those who have listened to and enjoyed Welcome to Tal'Dorei will recognize names such as Colm McGuinness, Omar Fadel, and Hexany Audio.
The range of music that listeners will find in this album encompasses the entire range of what fans were hearing through the show. James explained that an important part of putting together an album like this is that it matches the tone of the story as "all the music is used in our main show and our base is this sort of 'peaks and valleys' of adventure". The album contains epic instrumentals covering victorious highs, exciting battle music, and deep emotional moments. James reinforced that the vision and high-quality product that is being released today is due to the amazing work of Laura Katz, "who really translated our vision to the musicians" as well as "Omar and Colm [who are] experts in their field and really defined that sound themselves".
The full tracklist is as follows:
- “Welcome to Wildemount” Colm McGuinness
- “Stroll Through Nicodranas” Omar Fadel
- “Reefs of Darktow” Omar Fadel
- “The Amber Road” Omar Fadel
- “The Luxon” Omar Fadel
- “Trouble at the Docks” Matthew Carl Earl (Hexany Audio)
- “Passage to Xhorhas” Omar Fadel
- “Back to the Blooming Grove” Steven Grove (Hexany Audio)
- “Smoke Fills the Room” Colm McGuinness
- “The Volstruckers” Colm McGuinness
- “The Crownsguard” Omar Fadel
- “The Aurora Watch” Matthew Carl Earl (Hexany Audio)
- “Echoes of Aeor” Omar Fadel
- “At the Gates of Bazzoxan” Omar Fadel
- “Orphanmaker” Colm McGuinness
- “The Hag’s Hovel” Matthew Carl Earl (Hexany Audio)
- “Rise of Uk’otoa” Omar Fadel
- “Above the Living Rooftops” Colm McGuinness
- “Neo-Somnovem Incarnate” Colm McGuinness
- “Hupperdook Tavern” Omar Fadel
Welcome to Wildemount should be available right now to buy or stream, so be sure to check your Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music, as well as other music platforms, to hear the album in its entirety.
What's next for Scanlan Shorthalt Music?
In talking about Welcome to Wildemount, the idea of other projects did come up. James discussed some ideas that had been had related to "[albums] themed around magic items, prime deities, or even moments in the timeline like The Calamity". Moving away from the non-diegetic music that plays to the cast and those at home, they've also been tossing around the idea of creating in-universe music. Does anyone want a "collection of Cobalt Reserve, or Hazel Copperpot field recordings"?
Unfortunately, when asked about the likelihood of a Scanlan Christmas album, I was told that it wasn't in the works but that it would be added to the list "...right next to the Scanlan Romance album".
TechRaptor would like to thank Maxwell James for his time answering our questions about Welcome to Wildemount.
