Analyzing "Floral Fracture - Reprise" Undertale Icebound OST | Basterd's LFA

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Next up, we have floral floral fracture reprise or reprise from the Undertale Icebound fan game mod soundtrack. Once again, everybody, this is a bastard Zela Faye, a layman-friendly analysis. I'm a professionally trained musician and composer, and my objective here is to explain things in a way so that you don't have to be one to understand what is happening here musically. So, if you like the sound of that, make sure you're following the channel, subscribe to the channel, whatever you do. Like the video, share it, leave a comment, turn on notifications, become a member. Once again, everybody, don't forget to join the Discord server. Join the Patreon, subscribe to the gaming channel, subscribe to the reacts channel. How to request songs if you're not on the live stream. Members getting early access to the content. I have a spiel for this and a bunch of other things later than this video, so stick around for that.

[00:00:42]Disclaimers showing on your screen right now, so go ahead and pause the video to read them in full. Otherwise, please be patient with me. I am acoustic and guitar-ed, so please keep that in mind.

[00:00:51]With that, let's do this. Undertale Icebound Floral Fracture. Let's go.

[00:01:08]Okay, so we start with the beginning there. We have a run up and down from what sounds to be a harp and a piano doing a doubling. Doubling is when you have more than one instrument doing the same thing at the same time, and it sounded like we were doing an arpeggio up and down. Arpeggio being when you play a chord one note at a time.

[00:01:28]Excuse me. So, for example, in this case, we were doing something like this.

[00:01:33]This is, for example, C major 7, and here is arpeggiated.

[00:01:38]So, we were doing something like that, a little bit more extended, and then we switch over to harp and maybe some strings in the background. Let me hear a bit more.

[00:01:50]Cuz there's there's a synth giving us some twisty notes that sounds to be like texture. We have the harp then engaging in a beautiful melody over here giving us potentially the the initial motif. Motif being the smallest version of your musical idea, the seed, the essence from which everything else comes from. So, let's see where it goes.

[00:02:15]>> [music] >> No, it's not the heart of the matter.

[00:02:21]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, there we go. So, now we bring in some orchestral percussion. We have some violins in the in the background and we have a glockenspiel high up giving us a descending melody and I think that might be our motif. I think that might be our motif. Again, motif smallest version of musical idea, seed, essence from which everything else comes from. And everything else is building around it.

[00:02:51]Let me hear a bit more.

[00:02:52]>> [music] >> There's the piano.

[00:02:59]>> [music] >> No, it's the piano. It's the piano.

[00:03:03]It's difficult it it's difficult to tell but that is what was being played here at the start. Um yeah, that's the core motif right there. That's the main motif, the piano there.

[00:03:12]Um yeah, it was the rest. Let's see.

[00:03:18]We stop everything, off the ramp we go.

[00:03:21]Off the ramp being a colloquial colloquial term that I use. Colloquial by that I mean there is no official academic definition for this or at least I'm use and choosing not to use it for the sake of simplicity. And off the ramp is what I like to call a particular type of transition that makes your listener feel suspended up in the air at the mercy of inertia waiting to see where you will land. Wait waiting to see where you land. Kind of like going off a ramp.

[00:03:40]How do you do this? Remove the the drums, maybe the bass as well and core main location in Undertale core.

[00:03:48]Okay, so that's the Uh, it's a motif.

[00:03:51]So, on top of that we're using a leitmotif over here. So, we are dealing with a leitmotif here.

[00:03:57]Leitmotif being a motif that is used in a subsequent work by the composer or rights holder to reference back to the original motif. If this is from the original Undertale, then we are talking about a quote instead of a leitmotif. If this is an area exclusive to Undertale Icebound, then it is a leitmotif. Uh, so either way, it's there. It's referencing back to the original. Let's see where this goes.

[00:04:26]Switching to guitars there with some phaser, some effects.

[00:04:34]Okay, so we're bringing the guitars. The guitar is playing what we call a riff. A riff is going to be uh motif that is put through an ostinato that is then played on a guitar or a bass or a synth or keyboard or whatever it is of um motif as I said. Uh, small is smaller version of a musical idea. Ostinato being when you repeat something over and over and over again with little to no variation.

[00:04:57]You play it on the guitar and a synth and you get yourself a riff. Riffs are more flexible in when you where you can place them as in if you place them in the accompaniment, it can work. If you place them in the lead, it can work.

[00:05:08]Whereas motifs are a lot more jealous than that. If they're not constantly in the uh in the in the spotlight, you risk it ruining your music. Downside of riffs is that developing the motifs or developing the idea the ideas in the riff is very difficult cuz whenever you do a derivative riff, you just end up with a new riff altogether rather than it being an extension of the original riff. Uh, whereas motifs, you can develop them a lot more easily than that.

[00:05:34]So, we're having that and we have another synth now giving us another melody with the motif. Let's see where this goes.

[00:05:42]Bringing in the drums.

[00:05:49]>> Yeah, and right now I'm just focusing on the um So, right now we just have the riff. We do have that other um the other synth in the background giving us what I think could be an elongation of the motif. Elongation being when you um another way that you can develop your material in which you play a slower version of something you've done before.

[00:06:10]And of course, the synth that we are using has this effect that makes it sound like pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa gives you that um that kind of effect. So, let's play how you doing?

[00:06:21]Let's see where this goes.

[00:06:30]Here's a bass synth in the background giving us a secondary melody.

[00:06:36]Developing that >> [music] >> further.

[00:06:43]And we bring in a guitar solo or a solo guitar. So, if it's a a uh a guitar solo, it's going to be more showing off the guitarist. If it's a solo guitar, we're just just doing the melody with that. When you're making music, you want to keep a careful balance between what is familiar and what is new. Too much familiarity, too much repetition, too much of the same thing, you risk boring the listener, they tune out. Too much new material too quickly, you risk overwhelming the listener, they tune out. There is one universal exception, no matter the style or genre, which is solos. You bring in a solo, as long as it sounds cool enough and it fits enough, you can get away with almost anything, meaning that the principle of familiarity and new material become more relaxed, meaning that you're you can still reach either extreme, it's just less likely, giving you more room for exploring. Let's see where this goes.

[00:07:33]Sorry.

[00:07:36]Let's see what we can do with the guitar a little bit.

[00:07:39]>> [music] >> Nice, second guitar there adding a little bit more.

[00:07:45]So, when now we have two guitars.

[00:07:55]So, now we bring the Sans synth over here. We bring in I think a variation of the motif.

[00:08:05]I think a variation of the motif. But, yeah, it's very much that Sans um that Sans that Sans synth. Yeah, that Sans synth.

[00:08:15]Very very like kudos to Toby Fox for making a sound so unique that it belongs to his character. Because it's one thing to come up with unique character design, which he did with Sans. But, to give him a unique sounding instrument that no matter where you put it in any piece, if it's that sound, you know that it's going that it's referencing Sans, is even more difficult.

[00:08:41]Kudos to him. Let's see where this goes.

[00:08:45]Megalovania synth? Yeah.

[00:08:51]>> [music] >> Then, what do you play in Megalovania?

[00:08:53]Switching over to the guitar.

[00:08:58]Continuing the melody.

[00:09:01]>> [music] >> So, we're doing a two guitars doing variations of the motif that we just had. Elongation, very beautiful.

[00:09:11]Is that a new bird sound?

[00:09:13]Switching to the glockenspiel, to the chimes.

[00:09:20]Having the other synth in the background.

[00:09:27]Being Sans theme. Doesn't matter.

[00:09:30]>> [music] >> Nice. But, here is a small chime, right?

[00:09:34]Yeah, cuz that's a different melody. So, the quote uh quote here is uh is a different one. So, now we have here. So, we're So, we're basically um bringing a bunch of the uh melodies from Undertale, and we're putting them here in this big uh composition while keeping the original material from this one going on as well. So, yeah, it seems like we're having So, this case these are not leitmotifs because these are not composed by Toby Fox, nor do these people have the rights for Undertale.

[00:10:04]So, let me explain that uh once again, right? So, a leitmotif is a motif reused by a by the composer or the rightsholder in a future work to reference back to the original. Whereas a quote is a motif used by somebody who is not the rightsholder and is not the composer of the original work used in a future work to reference back to the original composer's motif. So, for example, if we were to have one of my pieces of music we're listening and everything's going on, and then everything stops and just That would be me quoting Beethoven.

[00:10:45]I didn't I'm not using Beethoven's Fifth Symphony leitmotif. I am I am quoting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The point of a quote is to reference back to the original. It's not to pass it off as your own. It's you paying tribute and homage to the original work. Let's hear where this goes.

[00:11:07]Cuz then we have the original synth here in the back with the original motif.

[00:11:10]That one has been playing since the start. Yes.

[00:11:13]We switch over to the orchestral percussion.

[00:11:18]And there's another synth in the background holding down the chords as well.

[00:11:25]Nice. Just letting the whole melody play out.

[00:11:28]Cuz it is a pretty long melody. It's a like the this motif over here is a pretty long motif, especially because this this particular one seems to be an elongation of it. The effects of the synth does give it a little bit more uh motion, but so far so good. Let's see where this goes.

[00:11:46]Off the riff.

[00:11:52]This seems to be another one.

[00:11:55]Core quote back for round two. Yep. Core Okay, core Yep, core quote from before. Now with doublings. We're having a synth and a guitar doing that while we are bringing back the um the guitar riff from before. This is a really good way because this is a good mix between a mashup or a medley and an original composition.

[00:12:17]This is a really good balance between the two because while it is quoting and it is referring back to the original materials, it still has its own essence.

[00:12:26]This is really well-made in that sense.

[00:12:28]It's really difficult to not just base the entire piece on somebody else's work. So, kudos here. Like absolute W's for the composer over here cuz this is really good. This is really good. AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS REALLY GOOD?

[00:12:45]THE PATREON.

[00:12:47]patreon.com/jamesarmaster if you want to support this channel more than you already are, consider joining the Patreon today. If you don't even if you're not pledging any money, do join the free tier because this is where the non-gaming LFA's are going. What are those? Anime, film, TV, label music, stuff that we usually don't do live on on the on the main channel, on the YouTube channel. Why? What we do is inherently fair use on YouTube. That does not stop bad actors such as record labels, film studios, rat scammers, individuals out there from abusing the copyright system. So, in order to just not deal with those headaches and not deal with those risks, these are going to go here on the Patreon, free for everyone to watch with members paid members getting early access to the content. So, if you want to support this channel more than you already are, consider joining the Patreon today. Thank you to those who are already members, especially those who are paid members, particularly Real Nemesis, French Guy, Another Random Human, and Amyer. Your support means the world to me. Thank you once again for your continued support. For everybody else, join the Patreon today.

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[00:13:48]Support this channel more if you want today. Let's go. Let's continue. Back we go. Let's see where this goes.

[00:13:57]Bit fragmented. [music] What the hell is he doing?

[00:14:00]Oh, it grooved so well.

[00:14:03]And I just realized this part over here is a groove. A full-on groove. A groove is a term that came from the genre of funk, where you have every single instrument doing something separate. Like none of the No two instruments are doing the same thing, but because of all the different things happening differently, the sum of all the parts results in a really, really good combination for all of them. And that's just what we call groove. This is proof that in music is whenever a term comes up, it gets frozen in time. Because groove is just 1970s talk for mood or vibe. Same concept, different time, different term.

[00:14:53]Same exact thing. So, yeah, let's see where this goes.

[00:14:58]And And he's messing with the man. Good.

[00:15:02]Let's see.

[00:15:04]Guitar solo.

[00:15:08]>> [music] >> More aggressive guitars. More aggressive drums.

[00:15:13]And we filter them out.

[00:15:19]This sound like another quote.

[00:15:21]Different quote. Separate guitar riff.

[00:15:27]And right now the main difference is the drums. The drums shifted just a little bit to fit this part over here, your best friend quote. So yeah, it sounds like this one is a medley for all the different quotes while keeping a common theme underneath. Let's see how it goes.

[00:15:43]>> [music] >> It's good though.

[00:15:49]Yep, see.

[00:15:54]Nice, very syncopated. Yes, it look at medley. Yep.

[00:15:58]Off the ramp again, bringing back the chime.

[00:16:07]Drum and bass [music] in the background all filtered out as if you're listening from a radio in the distance.

[00:16:13]There's the Sans synth again.

[00:16:17]Nice.

[00:16:24]Little variation there, nice.

[00:16:26]>> [music] >> Bringing back.

[00:16:31]And we bring in a polyrhythm with the guitars now. So we start this ascending line and now the guitars and the drums are a little bit separated. The bass drum is um doubling the polyrhythm.

[00:16:46]Again, doubling is when you have more than one instrument doing the same thing at the same time and the rest of the drums are keeping the steady beat.

[00:16:52]Polyrhythm being well, I mean the word means multiple rhythms.

[00:16:56]And usually this word is used this term is used when you have multiple rhythms that are clashing, playing at the same time and that clash is what makes them sound cool. So for example, we can have the simplest one which is the three versus two polyrhythm where you have one part playing twos, one, two, one, two and one doing threes, one, two, 1 2 3. You play them together.

[00:17:22]So, we're having something a little bit more complicated than that over here.

[00:17:25]While one of the guitars is playing the guitar is playing the ascending melodies, the drums are doing the polyrhythm, and we're having something else going on. Let me hear a bit more.

[00:17:33]>> [music] >> Yeah, the guitar is doing the polyrhythm there, the melody, the melodic guitar.

[00:17:44]Now, we're having everybody joining in for the ascending >> [music] >> We bring back the guitar, but the contrast here.

[00:17:54]Oh, a little bit of kill switch, nice.

[00:17:58]We're having a chorus in the back doing that.

[00:18:04]And the polyrhythm gets even more pronounced.

[00:18:09]Little slide there. So, yeah, that sound over here that we heard is a pick slide.

[00:18:15]Uh guitar pick slide. Basically, you take the side of a guitar pick and you slide it against the the thicker strings of the guitar. You get this really cool sound. Let's see where this goes.

[00:18:26]Guitar solo.

[00:18:28]>> [music] >> Behind the above the really cool riff.

[00:18:34]We had this riff before, I think, around here, I think.

[00:18:38]Nice, we have that little motif there from the ascending line.

[00:18:42]Nice.

[00:18:44]How are we going to take this?

[00:18:53]All right, complete shift.

[00:18:55]We bring back the uh distant radio sound.

[00:19:00]Complete shift over here of um this whole thing. We're bringing like this more not so much shift in, but like reggae style to this. Let's see where this goes.

[00:19:13]Not reggae, no.

[00:19:15]It's like Yeah, chug doom. Chug doom is accurate, yeah.

[00:19:18]And we bring back the drums, man. The drums are so [music] good throughout this whole thing.

[00:19:29]So, now we have multiple melodies going on at the same time. We're getting a lot of counterpoint over here. We're getting a groove out of counterpoint.

[00:19:36]Counterpoint being the study the art of melodies, how they are, how they develop, how they interact with one another, usually in the context of having multiple melodies playing at the same time, as we are hearing over here.

[00:19:46]So, yeah, the drums still engaging in some of those polyrhythms, and we are getting basically all over the place different melodies that are just really interacting with one another. Let's see where this goes.

[00:19:58]>> [music] >> There's the synths.

[00:20:04]That sounds like another leitmotif with some rhythmic variations. Either that or they solo.

[00:20:10]Either that or they synth solo. And there it is. There it is. There's the Oh.

[00:20:21]So, we play this part as a not so much call and response, but we are having a start and stop to the drums and the guitars. Uh very, very cool way to extend uh silence basically going off the ramp at when it ends, whenever they go solo, and giving the chance to have the melody shine even more. Really cool. Let's see where this goes.

[00:20:48]While we're slowly advancing the melody over here.

[00:20:52]>> [music] >> Arpeggio from the guitar?

[00:20:56]Nice. And another synth doubling.

[00:21:01]Nice.

[00:21:02]And unleashing guitars.

[00:21:07]Final attack. Yep.

[00:21:15]Nice.

[00:21:16]Let's see.

[00:21:20]>> [music] >> Bringing a counter point and we bring in an accelerando.

[00:21:27]We bring the second synth and we bring an accelerando to this. Accelerando means that you're gradually speeding up the music as we are hearing over here.

[00:21:36]And we have the secondary synth [music] giving us a counter melody.

[00:21:41]And we immediately slow it down.

[00:21:43]Immediately bring it back to the original tempo.

[00:21:46]We have a synth going up and down.

[00:21:50]Echoes from the previous melody.

[00:21:53]>> [music] >> We have the bass resolve one last time down.

[00:21:57]We bring back the original synth we heard at the start.

[00:22:01]We remove it.

[00:22:03]>> [music] >> And we have a ritardando.

[00:22:08]We distort the sound.

[00:22:11]Resolves and there you have it. So we end this with a track with a ritardando.

[00:22:18]Ritardando is the opposite of an accelerando. Ritardando means that you gradually slow down the the music whereas accelerando is when you gradually speed up the music. So we have a ritardando over here and with that the track ends almost the way it began.

[00:22:36]There you have it. That was Floral Fracture Reprise Reprise from the Undertale Icebound fan game mod thing.

[00:22:44]That was really good. That was a really good ending. Once again everybody, this has been a Bastard Zel Fae, a layman friendly analysis. I'm a professionally trained musician and composer and my objective here has been to explain things in a way so that you don't have to be one to understand what's happened here musically. So if you're watching this on the YouTube video archive thing, thank Thank watching. Make sure you're following me on channel, subscribe to the channel, whatever you want to do.

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[00:25:38]There you have it. Floral Fracture reprise Undertale Icebound. That was really good, man. That was a good medley. Good stuff, man. Good stuff, but yeah, let's move on. Let's move on.