Paul Aubry is a composer who came onto my radar in 2020, with the release of The Wandering Band's city builder, Airborne Kingdom. I immediately fell in love with his sparkling melodies and delicate orchestrations. An album (and a vinyl record!) that I've cherished for almost six years now, and which has just received a little brother. Airborne Empire, the sequel to Kingdom, has just exited early access. Paul showcases even more sophisticated music there, heavily inspired by the works of Joe Hisaishi. I had no choice: I had to talk to him about it!
It’s hard to believe it’s already been six years since Airborne Kingdom was released. That was the starting point of your career in video game music; how have you been since then?
Paul Aubry: Yes it’s crazy how time flies! Airborne Kingdom did open some new doors as a video game composer, and since 2020, I think I have maintained a healthy work / personal life balance. I became a father in 2021, I now have two young kids, and I needed to make space for this new chapter. Airborne Empire is now my fourth published video game soundtrack. This, combined with other music projects in fields such as advertising and TV, so far, I had plenty enough to keep myself busy!
I’m absolutely thrilled to see you back for the music of Airborne Empire. How did you approach this sequel? Did you feel more pressure (given the game's success, the vinyl release, etc.), or was it mostly excitement?
PA: I was of course very enthusiastic to return to the “Airborne” universe of The Wandering Band. The music I did for Airborne Kingdom means a lot to me and to my video game music career. So it was like coming back to this comfy creative place with a team I have a lot of respect for. Extending this universe was exciting, but I was also really hoping Airborne Empire music could match Airborne Kingdom’s in its own way, to do justice to the new artistic direction of the sequel, while staying coherent with the first title.
What’s it like writing music for an Early Access game? Had you already finished the soundtrack during that period, or did you keep adding new tracks to the OST as things went along?
PA: It’s a bit particular because to me, Early Access is presented as if it’s a full game to be played, but at the same time, it’s not the “full” game. The state of the music depends on the developer, the game, and what is to be added throughout Early Access. In the case of Airborne Empire, which has a very open soundtrack in an open world, EA had most of the tracks, but I just wanted to use that period to polish the music as much as possible, to extend some of the pieces to their full potential form, and also to complete additional music ideas that I really wanted to be added to the full soundtrack. The biggest music update, after EA, in this case, was really the release of the complete soundtrack at 1.0, just now.
You already had a great team for the Kingdom soundtrack, but I see even more names in the credits for Airborne Empire. Can you tell me a bit about the musicians who were involved?
PA: Since Airborne Empire is a bit closer to traditional orchestral music and has some Studio Ghibli influence, I wanted to have soloists from various sections of the orchestra to exchange solo melodies, and to play along with bigger ensembles to add extra human feel to the virtual full orchestra (unfortunately, there was not the budget for that many musicians!).
I expanded my roster with amazing new musicians, in part because I recorded most of them myself on-site, but some others helped remotely for additional music. I notably worked with collaborators from Airborne Kingdom, like flute player Emma Kramer-Rodger. Simon Desrochers, who helped out a lot on the first title with the music direction and live acoustic guitar recordings, also helped on this one and played acoustic guitar on a few tracks.
Since Airborne Kingdom came out, we’ve also heard your work on Station to Station and Town to City. How did you manage these different projects? Did they follow one another naturally, or did the deadlines tend to overlap?
PA: Station to Station was done in 2023 (much later after finishing Kingdom), and Town to City was also developed by Galaxy Grove, so there was a little gap between them. Both of these games did overlap with Airborne Empire's production though. To make the schedule work, I had to spread the work on the Airborne Empire soundtrack over a longer period of time. This game had quite significantly more content to compose, and I am grateful I was able to get the flexibility to finish it properly. Now that the full music is out with 1.0, I can say that I really went to the bottom of how I truly wanted the music to be.
Which track are you most proud of on the Airborne Empire OST, and why?
PA: I think if I must pick one, I would go for Vision of a Soaring City (Day). Overall, I really like how this one turned out, and really checks a big number of criteria I was aiming for: some sections remind me of Airborne Kingdom, the oboe main melody gives a little Ghibli touch, there is something cheerful and energetic about the main melody, but there are also more relaxed sections to let the player breathe.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of Desert on the Horizon (Day). That flute section at 3:20 gives me goosebumps.
PA: It's funny you brought up this section of the song. That track during Early Access stopped at 3:10 and stayed that way for a long time. I really struggled to find an ending that truly felt right to me until I thought of repeating this melody on (3:20) woodwinds. Then I was finally able to finish the piece more fluidly.
Compared to the first album, there are many more Day/Night tracks. Do you see that as a constraint, or do you enjoy creating different moods for the same piece?
PA: Earlier in the process, I threw the idea to The Wandering Band that each day track could have its own night re-interpretation. Re-arranging, re-visiting pieces in different genres or moods, exploiting melodies and themes in different ways is something that I really enjoy doing. I went for that goal in part because it was allowing me to exploit and reinforce the melodies heard during the day track, but also as a reference to a game like Breath of the Wild , which was a very important influence to the Airborne Empire's gameplay and artistic direction.
The usual day/night versions you might hear in games like Breath of the Wild, is mainly the same piece's form, but slower and with slightly different instrumentation. In the case of Empire, I tried to go a bit more free of that, so the night versions could be significantly different from their day version form, really extracting fragments here and there of the original pieces. This was giving me more flexibility to be creative, but also to get the best of both worlds so that the full soundtrack does not get too redundant with the same themes you hear twice and still get a sense of the day and night music cycle.
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So far, you’re known for composing wonderful orchestral music and very chill tracks. Would you like to explore other musical styles in future projects?
PA: It is always a beautiful challenge and a breath of fresh air to explore new musical styles as a composer, and I am always up to that challenge. However, over time, I think it is normal to get labeled with a certain genre you are more comfortable with , and I am ok with this too.
With an industry saturated with talented composers, if I go out of what I am truly used to doing, I am likely to be no match to other genre's specialists. That said, in most projects, I do get new challenges I was not entirely used to within the "chill" genre I am labeled to: making Middle East-inspired music for Airborne Kingdom, getting an accordion and making traditional French-inspired music for Town to City, listening to Joe Hisaishi to get Ghibli inspirations for Airborne Empire, etc. So eventually, I suppose I might get more and more challenges out of my comfort zone, and my video game genre palette will expand.
Please, tell me I’ll soon be able to slot the Airborne Empire vinyl next to the Kingdom one in my collection!
PA: It was really a privilege to see Airborne Kingdom going to vinyl! It's such a nice object to have, and I wish every soundtrack I did could end up the same. Getting an indie game soundtrack on vinyl is a long shot, not going to lie, but the release is still fresh, and I did not have the time to think about it. It’s still early to see if it can be done.
What’s the last video game soundtrack that blew you away?
PA: Everytime I hear the work of Todd Baker I am always pretty mind blown. The last soundtrack I took a listen to was Monument Valley 3 from him (and Lucie Treacher) and everything is so tasteful ! The first time I discovered this composer was when I heard the Alto’s Odyssey soundtrack and I immediately fell in love!
Do you have any exciting future projects you can tell us about?
PA: I am continuing my collaboration with Galaxy Grove this year! They are now developing their third voxel game for which I'm writing the music! I have written a good part of the soundtrack already, but it's not announced yet, so I can't say much about it. Another unannounced project I can't say much about, is that I have also not too long ago made a big bunch of piano arrangements for a cover album of a popular franchise (to be released by an independent label). Hopefully it is going to be announced and released in the near future.
Let’s wrap up with a recommendation! What’s your favorite album of 2026 so far?
PA: I’m a bit late on 2026 releases, so I will stay in the late 2025. This might not come as a very original recommendation since it just won a Grammy, but I’ve been enjoying listening to Austin Wintory’s Sword of the Sea soundtrack lately. Very meditative with interesting textures, and the compositions are unpredictable in a nice way!
