The Nick Soundtrack is out — A сonversation with Christophe Péreuil, composer of this

Hello, everyone!

I'm Andy, the studio head and game director of The Nick. Today, I'm in a great mood and have some wonderful news:

The Nick Original Soundtrack is out now on Steam an all digital platforms!

27 tracks, nearly an hour of music — a world of echoes, childhood fragments, and fragile emotions.

You can check it right here:

Or simply type “The Nick Chapter 1” into your favorite streaming service's search bar, and you'll find it.

So we sat down with Christophe Péreuil, the Paris-based composer behind the game's haunting soundscape, to talk about process, feeling, and friendship.

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Cozy kitchen with Chris

Andy: Hey Chris! Let’s start from the top — for those who might not know you yet, who are you and what’s your role in The Nick?

Chris: My name is Chris, I live in Paris and I'm the composer of the soundtrack of The Nick!

Andy: Still love how casually you say that — like it’s no big deal!!!🤭 Okay, so… music seems to run in your veins. How did it all begin for you?

Chris: My father being a musician, music has always had a great place in my life. I started doing music more seriously in my twenties where I’ve been playing double bass and guitar with jazz bands.

More recently; I wanted to take my practice to the next level and went to Falmouth University to do an MA on Music Production.

Andy: Right, that makes sense — you can really hear that jazz sensitivity in your phrasing. So, how did you end up crossing paths with our team?

Chris: Right after my MA, I started to look for composer positions. Being a huge fan of videogames, I searched for positions in the videogame industry. This is how I found Flat Reality.

I have been immediately amazed by the concept of The Nick. I remember falling instantly in love with the story, the graphics and the whole atmosphere. At that time, the game was at its very early stages, it wasn’t even playable! You, Andy, the game director, I spoke for hours about the game, the emotions we want to convey, musical references and life in general.

Following these conversations, I sat in front of my piano and just improvised based on everything we said. Remember, the game wasn’t playable! So I focused on emotions more than images or gameplay. There were these recurring themes about fragility of childhood and traumas. I expanded on these ideas, recorded bits of music, sent that to Andy and it was an instant match!

Andy: Yeah, I still remember that first piano demo — it felt like you somehow heard the game before it existed. Maybe, someday we will publish all of our piano versions. At least, I hope! For people who haven’t listened yet, how would you describe the world you created through sound?

Chris: This soundtrack is a big baby of 27 tracks and 58 minutes of music.

It is composed of very different tracks, going from nostalgic 80s music to hard rock or classical music. You will find some weird ambiences to accompany you in this journey in this scary manor but also very emotional pieces that emphasize this deep story.

Andy: A “big baby” indeed — we carried it together for years!😭😭 Tell me more about your creative process. How did the music come to life?

Chris: The usual process is that Andy comes to me and say “hey, I need a new piece of music!”. We then chat about how it should sound, the different emotions conveyed, the action in the game, etc. It is a very organic process, we don’t have any schedule with a list of tracks and deadlines. We have a three years long conversation made of friendship, piano pieces, arguments, in-game screenshots, and discussions about all and nothing! I like how this collaboration with Andy has always seemed something very natural.

I then sit in front of my piano to search for ideas. I am not a brilliant piano player but it is my main instrument for inspiration. I love that everything is happening in the real world with the piano, there’s no computer, screens, or softwares, just you and a huge piece of wood and metal. I just let the ideas and emotions flow until I find something interesting. I record bits of piano, send that to Andy and we agree together on a general direction for the track.

After that, I use Ableton to create a full track that sounds good to us and will accompany the player through their journey in The Nick!

Andy: Yeah, it actually was "organic" — nothing forced, no deadlines, just emotion guiding the way. What kind of instruments shaped that sound world?

Chris: With this retro aesthetic, I had to use vintage synths! I am lucky enough to own a bunch of them that you will find all along this soundtrack. The Roland Juno-60 is my favourite. It is perfect to create very atmospheric sounds but also nostalgic melodies, just like in For All That Lives.

I also used a Minimoog, an old and crazy 80s synth, the Polivoks, a Yamaha DX-7 or a Therevox. This one is a replica of one of the very first synthesizers, the Ondes Martenot. You play notes with a ribbon rather than keys, thus allowing you to create very expressive music, just like in Allant’s Lament.

Apart from synthesizers, you will also find guitars, ukulele, piano or weird voices in this soundtrack!

Andy: You forgot to mention the haunted noises — the ghosts living inside your studio. Which track feels most special to you personally?

Chris:That is a very difficult question. I would say that the track that can be considered like the "heart" of Chapter 1 is The Nick, obviously. This theme is the first I created for this game. It expresses for me nostalgia of childhood and grief. We like it so much with Andy that we reused it several times in this soundtrack.

As for my personal favourite, I would say this bizarre track that Bar is. Everything you hear in this track is only sounds coming from my piano. The idea was to create an ambience for a haunted piano. So you can hear everything that has been captured while I was recording this track : cracks from my chair or the piano, me breathing loudly or swearing because I’m struggling recording this track, weird noises from my room, etc. I love working with microsounds and I did here a complete track full of them!

Andy: That track still gives me emotions — it’s like you turned imperfection into intimacy. Thank you so much for your work, wasting your time on this convo and our friendship!

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Whoah, I am very glad that Chris took the time to share so much! Just a reminder: The Nick Original Soundtrack is available now on all streaming platforms and on Steam. Step inside Chris’s world — where every note carries a memory, and every silence hums with something left unsaid.

Actually, I completely forgot to mention that I also participated in the creation process. Several tracks were written by me while designing scenes in the engine. Most of these tracks were finalized by Chris. They are mostly quite personal compositions (which you may find more of in Allant's diary). This is my first full-length music release, and I am very proud to continue working side by side with such a talented composer!💜

And our team went to celebrate this holiday on Discord.

See you soon!🫂