Assassin's Creed: Valhalla: The Siege of Paris soundtrack

The Assassin's Creed: Valhalla: The Siege of Paris soundtrack is a collection of music tracks written by American composer Stephanie Economou, featuring vocals by American singer Ari Mason, that were used as background music in the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla downloadable expansion The Siege of Paris. It released digitally on 12 August, 2021.

Background

Word on Economou's involvement in the soundtrack was first made public in an early May 2021 interview with concert entertainment site CineConcerts regarding her work scoring the music for Jupiter's Legacy, a Netflix show based on the comic series of the same name. When asked if she had any other projects after Jupiter's Legacy, Economou revealed that she had just finished writing the score for The Siege of Paris and was also working on another undisclosed work for the Assassin's Creed series.

On 26 June, 2021 the track single "Hásæti" was released as a preview for the August debut of The Siege of Paris. Unlike the promotions for the main soundtrack or the score for Valhalla's first expansion Wrath of the Druids, this was the only cue that was marketed early before the album's debut.

Composition

Prior to writing the music, the first thing Economou did was research the period surrounding the Vikings' siege of Paris from 885–886 CE in an attempt to find any record of what 9th century France may have sounded like. Unfortunately, most records of what survived were liturgical pieces from Christian church services. After listening to the main game's soundtrack and being inspired to explore nontraditional methods of creating and using soundscapes, Economou decided to instead borrow sounds from later in the Medieval Ages and reaching into the Renaissance.

The resulting score was thus full of various stringed instruments, namely, the lyre, kantele, hammered dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, viola da gamba, and the earliest form of the violin called a vielle. These were all backed by frame drums, didgeridoo, and the contemporary woodwind called a shawm. More modern instruments like the cello, viola, and bass were also included, but as they still had hundreds of years at the time of the siege until they developed into their current form, all three of them were played by hitting the strings with sticks or aggressively scratching them to create a rougher sound instead of bowing as usual. To heighten the dissonance used to musically represent a grueling siege, many of the instruments were detuned and allowed to uncharacteristically slide between notes rather than perform the sheet music perfectly.

Despite these irregular sounds, however, Economou still referred to the 9th century church music uncovered in her research by incorporating background vocal chants by Ari Mason in Old Norse, Latin, and French. One prominent example was in the sole preview track "Hásæti". Translated from Old Norse, it means "Seat of honor" and featured Norse lyrics backed by frame drum, strings, and a Viking horn call, all of which Economou hoped would help convey the sense of finality for the emotional moment in the game when players hear the cue.

The album's main track, also titled "The Siege of Paris", was one of the final pieces written and built off the theme played on woodwinds and the viola de gamba in the first track "Francia". In stark contrast to the gentler tune from early in the album, this reprise was built to be more action-oriented with harsh, short bursts of strings and shawms over drawn-out scratchy music bars to better reflect the chaos in storming Paris.

Track listing

1. Francia - 3:23
2. Eivor Scours the Villa - 1:22
3. Honor to Ravensthorpe - 2:33
4. Melun Celebration - 0:48
5. The Sewers - 1:51
6. Bishop Engelwin and Count Odo - 2:25
7. Plague District - 2:00
8. The Rot in the Slums - 2:44
9. The Hour of Our Glory - 1:20
10. Little Mother's Ritual - 2:46
11. Crossing the Seine - 1:07
12. Charles the Fat - 3:15
13. Hásæti - 1:47
14. The Siege of Paris - 1:59