A big part of this game's vibe is the midwestern emo sound that I tried to convert to the gameboy. Midwestern emo is not what you might think when you hear the term 'emo'. Its not talking about Dashboard Confessional or My Chemical Romance style stuff. Those bands came later. Midwestern emo was an early 90s off-shoot of more hardcore punk rock. It was slow and had lots of jangly guitars, long winding passages of meandering instrumental music, cryptic personal lyrics and raw vocals sometimes shouted or whispered. C-Clamp from Champagne-Urbana, Illinois was always one of my favorites. They're similar to the much more well known American Football. Slow quiet songs that unfold with unexpected time signatures and passages. These are songs you get lost in. 

Many feel the start of this style (or at least where most of us found it) was a compilation album called (Don't Forget to) Breathe. It features some early artists who delved into this sound. 

I asked C-Clamp for permission to use  amazing song 'In Tow' and to my surprise they cleared it with their label. If you're interested in some of the other music that influenced the sound track check out these groups:

Each link goes to one of my favorites:

• Christie Front Drive - Slow, heavy, autumnal songs filled with emotion.
• Revengineers - Sort of chiptune emo, faster and more upbeat than some other bands here.
• The Appleseed Cast - Softer and more emotional songs, lots of dynamics. 
• C-Clamp - Soft math-rocky songs that take unexpected turns but overall are soothing. They're probably not technically midwest emo but share some DNA you might say.
  
• The Promise Ring - Known by many, kind of a poetic midwestern emo mainstay.
• Maritime - A later band of the singer of Promise Ring, also super good. 
• Braid - Acrobatic emotional rock from Chicago. Very tight and talented.
• American Football - Soft, slow and nostalgic, a favorite (they played live in Minecraft during COVID).
• Chinese Football - Their inspiration is obvious, I don't know what they're saying but I like how it sounds.

I like the energy of these bands. Its not overpowering and there's a lot of nostalgic feeling, especially with C-Clamp and Christie Front Drive. Listen to Christie Front Drive while you walk around in the fallen leaves in October, its quite an experience.