Kylydian reimagines the beloved music of Animal Crossing: New Horizons through sweeping symphonic arrangements, blending warm nostalgia with cinematic orchestration, jazz influences, and bold new interpretations. From the quiet intimacy of “Stale Cupcakes” to the thunderous “K.K. Metal,” featuring Ro Panuganti on guitar, these arrangements expand the world of K.K. Slider into something grand, emotional, and deeply personal.

Artist Liner Notes:
Symphonic Horizons: Animal Crossing is the fulfillment of a dream 11 years in the making. Animal Crossing has always been my favorite game series ever since I started my second life as Sparky in Tweville back on September 17th 2001. My love for the series continues through this day, and despite a complicated history of music, I’ve always been enamored by K.K. Slider’s music. Saturday Nights were meant for browsing through the Nintendo Power guide and finding a neat sounding title to hear what K.K. would play for me in front of the train station. K.K. Cruisin’? Now that was a night to remember.

In college, my friends and I were obsessed with playing New Leaf late into the night for years. In my adventures in the town of Aston, one night I happened upon Stale Cupcakes. I’m not sure I’d go so far to say that Stale Cupcakes changed the course of my life…but it definitely played a huge role in shaping the years that followed. This simple track with just a melody and an accompaniment had me fully obsessed. How could something so simple be so emotionally enthralling? This led to the thought, “What would this sound like if it was played by a full Orchestra?” At the time, I was the only one who could answer this question. The next day found me in the Central Washington University music library as I worked at finding the answer.

The answer I found set me down a path to becoming a video game composer. As I dove more and more into game music, the more obsessed I became with K.K. Slider, and I wasn’t sure why. K.K. Disco. K.K. Metal. K.K. Etude. I had the realization that K.K.’s music was music that defined genres. If there was a piece of music that encapsulated what Metal music was, it was K.K. Metal.

But despite his extensive catalogue of genre defining music, there remained a huge, glaring omission: K.K. Symphony.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Animal Crossing, and even still, K.K. has never gone to the symphony…until now.

“What would a full orchestra concert sound like?” “What would K.K. Robot Synth sound like?” “How could we take K.K. Disco…disco music that is about disco music, and put it on a full orchestra?” “What tracks would be in a full concert?” I had to know.

Symphonic Horizons: Animal Crossing is my answer to these years of thinking, analyzing and loving everything about K.K. Slider and Animal Crossing. You’ll hear his music like you’ve never heard it before, with many surprises and fun nods to Animal Crossing, K.K., his real life counterpart Kazumi Totaka, and music history along the way.

And the end of the night, we end right where we began. Stale Cupcakes, unchanged from my arrangement 11 years ago.

Happy 25th Animal Crossing. Let’s enjoy it together.