Reconnecting (2023, rev. 2025)

Around 2021 I downloaded a mod for Mario Kart Wii, a very important game to my childhood, which added hundreds of custom player-created tracks, and reinstated the online services. Playing online for the first time in almost 10 years with over 200 new tracks at my disposal felt like a dream I would have as a kid, as if the game had all of this secret content. It was familiar and nostalgic, but also off-putting and changed. This piece, "Reconnecting," seeks to encapsulate this feeling in the context of all retro media, taking inspiration from the vaporwave genre and 2000s midi synth music. Its final movement, "Khaen" is named after a Laotian instrument, and seeks to emulate the retro-sounding music of Khaen player Hal Walker.