Posted on May 9, 2022

Armored Trooper Votoms music catalog

The “main man” of Votoms music was Hiroki Inui. Born in 1949, he graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and was an arranger and keyboard player since the 1970s. He was also active in the field of broadcast music for television and radio dramas. Votoms was his first full-fledged action score. His cool jazz/synth style was enthusiastically supported by his fans, and he consistently composed music for the Votoms series until he sadly passed away in 2003, leaving few interviews behind.

Commentary from the Votoms Roman Album:

When I first heard about this project, I was told that it would be a “space thing” and a “mecha thing.” That was about it, and I didn’t know much about the content. But it had a rather serious theme, and it seemed to be a “hard story,” so I thought it should be interesting. Later, I asked the recording director, Mr. Urakami, about it, and he told me that it was a work with a hard-boiled touch.

I started with the opening theme song, but the lyrics were not written yet. At first I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but I couldn’t help overthinking it. I then went on to create it the way I wanted to. However, I did have a title and theme that I wanted to use: Destiny of Flame. When I wrote the song, I still didn’t know what kind of character Chirico was. I wrote the song as if I were pursuing a mystery, asking, “Who am I?”

I changed the background music for each story arc, and the result was good. Many of the tracks were short, and there must have been over a hundred. There were two theme songs and one insert song. I have done animation before, but this was the first time I did it all.

Liner notes from the first BGM album:

I want you to listen to “the sound space”

This is my third animation project, but the first time I have been so deeply involved. When I first met with director Ryosuke Takahashi and asked him about this story, he told me about the main character, Chirico. I felt empathy for Chirico and the content of the story and accepted the project.

When composing, the most important thing I kept in mind was to create music that would not be based on the accumulation of sounds made by synthesizers and other instruments, but rather on the “sound space” of an orchestra. This genre is neither classical nor pop, but a chaos of both, and in a sense, it is “contemporary music.” We were able to create the music freely, and the result is exactly what we were aiming for.

See a list of Inui’s credits at Anime News Network here

PREVIOUS WORKS:

Inui was part of a 5-piece band that created one of the earliest synthesizer cover albums for an anime series, mainly Space Battleship Yamato tracks with a few others mixed in. It would spark a whole series called Digital Trip that gave the same treatment to countless shows in the 80s until the fad died off. The LP (at left) begat a 2-disc CD (at right), which added more tracks and a live concert disc.

Listen to the complete album here

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