Game Music Festival: Persona Grooves

RPGFan Music Game Music Festival: Persona Grooves by Paul Skevington on July 25, 2026 If you read our recent review of the Hitoshi Sakimoto concert , you know what a great time RPGFan had at that event. It was organised by the marvelous Game Music Foundation, a Polish group of game music enthusiasts who work tirelessly to bring their passion to an international audience. The Persona Grooves concert was part of their Game Music Festival season, which runs through 2026, and I was privileged to receive an invitation for it. I arrived earlier in the evening to attend a Fireside Chat, one of several pre-concert discussions moderated by Laced Records’ Tom Quillfeldt. The panel consisted of Sebastian Stauß and Noah Haußmann, the duo behind the composing group Arigto, who were discussing their most recent work, the vinyl soundtrack release for the game Selfloss . Also present were composers Jade Leamcharaskul ( Dragon Fin Soup ) and Nainita Desai ( Telling Lies , Tales of Kenzera: Zau .) Arigto confirmed that they caught the attention of Selfloss’s creator through their experimental music. Because Selfloss’s creator is a musician too, they were able to precisely explain what they wanted. Conversely, Desai said that Zau took a long time to conceptualise, mixing authentic rhythms with other approaches. Images from the pre-event discussions. Desai, who also has a long career in film and TV, discussed the differences between working in that field and in games. With a conventional Drama, you might be engaged for 4-5 months and expected to produce 30 minutes of music in a week. With a game, you could spend months and years on it, with the production team starting to feel like family. She reflected that when you work with a company for years, you are on a road of discovery together, creating a safe space for innovation and the forging of beautiful, unique worlds. Leamcharaskul works with smaller teams on indie projects on which timescales can be tighter, depending on the nature of the project, its genre, and its gameplay. She recalled tricky directions from developers, such as “make it sound purple”. Desai commented that having an Audio Director was very useful when working on games, as they could serve as a filter between the composer and other elements of game production. When approaching Zau , they worked based on the sound having three essential pillars: orchestral, African mythology, and Afro-futurism, which comes across clearly when you listen to the OST. Desai described her process for working on Call of Duty , where she went for a Mexican feel, but didn’t want to use a mariachi band or other cliched tones. She went back to the roots of the music, referring to the influences of the Moors of Africa and Spain. During production, she was contacted by someone who introduced her to a rare instrument invented in Iceland, which was like a cello, but with each string controlled separately from its own amplifier. The piece was composed by sending the owner of the instrument a rough melody, which they worked on and sent back, creating fragile, textured sounds, with a life of their own. Quillfeldt asked whether the experience of creating a soundtrack release was different than working on the game itself. Desai said that the two experiences are very different, with in-game music having to drive emotional investment over 30-60 hours, whilst a soundtrack has to work as a standalone item. Next was a panel on The Cultural Importance of Video Games, moderated by Luke Hebblethwaite, games industry consultant and former Head of Games at BAFTA. Joining him were BBC journalist and author Alex Humphreys; Senior Membership and Events Manager at the Ivors Academy, Grace Croucher; and Head of Music and Gaming Partnerships at Laced Records, Mat Ombler. Hebblethwaite opened with a question about modern recognition of game music. In Ombler’s view, it needs lifting up, despite multiple concert events in production at this point in time. He said there was still prejudice against game music, even in the face of the soundtrack to Clair Obscur achieving millions of streams and topping Billboard’s Classical Album charts for multiple weeks. On top of this, the Download Festival this year featured Final Fantasy XIV band The Primals , led by composer Masayashi Soken and with vocalist Koji Fox. In Omber’s opinion, gaming sometimes speaks to its own audience too much, unlike in previous ages when soundtracks for games like Wipeout sought to attract the mainstream with their musical offerings. The conversation moved to Croucher, who discussed how the Ivors Academy, as a trade association, seeks to celebrate, empower and protect its members, and to lobby the UK Parliament. She said they represent ghostwriters in TV & Film and are looking towards something similar for games where composers are not always credited (I’m looking at you, Falcom Sound Team jdk.) Alex Humphreys then announced an exciting project, a radio show called Game Tracks that comprises four two-hour-long episodes of game music and interviews. Humphreys had first pitched this in 2012, but found there was a lack of understanding of games as a medium at the time. Even in 2020, she was confronted by a manager who didn’t play games, stating that her husband had told her that games were for kids. This began to change post-pandemic, and now she is in a position to present a programme where she cleared 200 pieces of music for transmission (although not all will appear), including composers such as Jesper Kyd ( Assassin’s Creed ) and Peter McConnell ( Grim Fandango ). I asked the panel whether they thought engaging with younger audiences, in a similar manner to how they might be taught classical music, would be a valuable approach to counter some of the resistance to the medium. There was broad agreement to this, with Hebblethwaite saying that he was already engaged in this area. Ombler commented that game studios need to be more involved with live performances, with youth taking part behind the scenes. At last, the panel were asked what the best soundtrack they had listened to recently was. Humphreys went for the previously mentioned Clair Obscur , singling out the track “Children of Lumiere”. Ombler selected the music to the emotionally devastating indie game And Roger , whereas Croucher mentioned Fortnite , Red Dead Redemption 2 , and perhaps most surprisingly, Toejam and Earl. An expert music ensemble, with the maestro himself. With the conversational part of the evening complete, I travelled downstairs in one of the Southbank Centre’s (literally) singing lifts to grab a quick bite before making my way to the auditorium for the main event. On the way, I was surrounded by legions of dedicated Persona fans, some in full cosplay. A particular favorite of mine was a very authentic Goro Akechi in his Crow alter ego. I was soon seated and filled with anticipation for something I could have only dreamed of attending previously, a full concert in the UK covering the music of Persona 3 , 4 , and 5. Half the battle with a successful concert is the initial musician setup, and we were treated to a magnificent combination for Persona Grooves . Traditional orchestra The London Mozart Players formed the backbone, but the Persona series demands a little something extra, so they were accompanied by the immensely skilled Bartosz Pernal jazz orchestra, rounded off by two talented vocalists, Paula Golebiowska and Natalia Szcypula. The vocalists were indeed crucial to such a vocal-heavy setlist. Perhaps most excitingly of all, composer Shoji Meguro took to the stage to the sound of a deafening standing ovation. Then the Midnight Hour truly arrived as the concert exploded in the unmistakable strains of “Full Moon Full Life.” The increased jazzy sound was immediately apparent, especially due to the male vocals of the choir and the heavy-sounding saxophone. This song has recently been on repeat for me due to the version performed by Persona 3: Reload ’s English cast, but hearing it live was especially evocative. Next came time for a “Takeover” from Persona 5, which was dominated by jazz guitar so earthy that you could almost feel the musician’s fingers on the strings. The vocal arrangement was stunning, as the singers worked beautifully together, accompanied by freestyle solos from the guitar and sax to really make it a show to remember. Then followed a rendition of “Tokyo Daylight,” which was far stronger and more forceful in this performance than in game. Meguro himself and host Alex Moukala welcomed us to the Velvet Room as the hall erupted to the sound of “Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There.” As with many other tracks during the night, Meguro lent his expert guitar abilities to the ensemble, proving that his musical talents extend beyond the page. The string section truly proved its worth here, melding with the other instruments to elevate the track like never before. This was swiftly followed by renditions of “Signs of Love” and an uptempo version of “Colors Flying High.” More from the Persona Grooves Concert. All of the arrangements were creative, but the Sonata arrangement of “No More What Ifs” with its soft strings and multiple sax solos was a particular highlight amongst many. Trying harder than ever to take your heart, the show danced through the starlight towards the finale. First we had “Beneath the Mask,” working perfectly with a Big Band sound, the snazzy percussion pulling it all together with the pacy sax and languorous guitar filling out the sound. Moukala let us know that it was getting late, and Morgana was keen for us to get to sleep, so they pressed on with one “Last Surprise,” with Meguro once more accompanying, its slow opening paving the way for an amazing keyboard solo that proved the versatility of the Persona sound. Persona Grooves ended with the true showstopper that is “Memories of You,” with Golebiowska and Szcypula navigating the difficult vocal sections perfectly. Soon the audience was back on its feet for a justifiably long round of exuberant applause. My own memories of the night will last a lifetime, and I can only hope that the Game Music Foundation returns next year for another round of celebratory concerts, as what they have managed so far is nothing short of remarkable.