Sound & Vision
ANÚNA, Video Game Music & ANIMÉ
ANÚNA has participated in some extraordinary video game projects over the years, and the ensemble's distinctive choral sound has proven a natural fit for some of the most significant franchises in the medium. This is the story of how that came about.
In June 2025 ANÚNA released the EP Ever Come to an End to all streaming services, featuring four tracks composed by Yasunori Mitsuda for the Xenoblade Chronicles series. A specially created video was released for the title track, performed by Lauren McGlynn, as a promotion for the EP.
Mitsuda himself wrote a note about "Ever Come to an End" to accompany the 2025 EP release: "I've worked with Lauren McGlynn, the main vocalist, on numerous pieces over the years. Her voice is both beautiful and carries a dark aspect, embodying the light and dark elements I often need in my compositions. She blends Irish musical nuances into her singing, which adds a touch of melancholy and strength. The song is set in the city of Theosoir. It's about people enduring in a lightless cloud sea, starting to walk towards a sunlit sky, a metaphor for moving from darkness to light, from past to future. Our world is currently in a dire state, engulfed in darkness. Many might be enduring and persevering. But if each of us focuses on the faint light ahead and takes steps forward, a path will surely open. I feel this song, this sentiment, must reach people globally now more than ever."
All four tracks were recorded at Sundlaugin Studio in Iceland, produced by Michael McGlynn and Brian Masterson. The roots of that collaboration, though, go back more than a decade.
ANÚNA's first involvement in video game music came in 2011, when Irish conductor and composer Eimear Noone contacted Michael McGlynn and invited the ensemble to contribute to the soundtrack of Diablo III (Blizzard, 2012). Russell Brower, Senior Director of Audio at Blizzard, directed the session, which took place at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin in July 2011 with Brian Masterson as recording consultant.
Brower was struck by what ANÚNA brought to the recording: "working somewhat against conventional expectations, Hell is a beautiful and seductive sound, provided by Dublin's uniquely astounding choral group ANÚNA." Diablo III sold 3.5 million units on its first day of release and 12 million in its first year. The soundtrack received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Original Music in 2013 and a Game Audio Network Guild nomination for Best Original Choral Performance the same year. When ANÚNA performed "Black Soulstone" and "Incantation" live at their 25th Anniversary concert at Dublin's National Concert Hall, the response was overwhelming, and the website crashed when the video of that performance was posted online.
ANÚNA with Russell Brower & Eimear Noone
Echoes of the ANÚNA sound could be heard in other games, most notably at the end of Metal Gear Solid, further collaboration seemed unlikely. However, in 2016, while on tour in Japan, McGlynn met Yasunori Mitsuda, the composer behind some of the most celebrated game soundtracks ever made.
Mitsuda had first encountered ANÚNA through the 1996 album Deep Dead Blue and had wanted to work with the ensemble ever since. Speaking of that first encounter, Mitsuda said: "I felt that ANÚNA was a new type of chorus that I'd never heard before. My attention was drawn to the lead singer, Michael McGlynn, and I dreamt about making music with ANÚNA one day. After 20 years, my dream came true through the making of the game Xenoblade Chronicles II." In 2017 ANÚNA were again on tour in Japan and Mitsuda seized the moment, arranging a recording session in Tokyo with Brian Masterson.
ANÚNA recorded four songs for Xenoblade Chronicles II (Nintendo, released 1 December 2017). McGlynn directed and filmed a music video for "Shadow of the Lowlands", released on Nintendo's YouTube channels worldwide at launch. In February 2018 ANÚNA won the Outstanding Contribution - Ensemble category at the Annual Game Music Awards 2017 for their work on the game.
After the recording in Tokyo, March 2017
That same month ANÚNA returned to Tokyo to take part in the Xenogears 20th Anniversary Concert — The Beginning and the End, four concerts at the Maihama Amphi Theater celebrating the 20th anniversary of Xenogears. The concerts were released as a live blu-ray by Square Enix Music on 13 March 2019.
The relationship with Mitsuda deepened further when ANÚNA visited Japan in autumn 2019 to appear on the iconic NHK programme Nodo Jiman (NHKのど自慢). It was there that Mitsuda heard Aisling McGlynn sing the solo on "Mononoke Hime" from Princess Mononoke and invited her to sing on the newly recorded soundtrack of Chrono Cross: the Radical Dreamers Edition (Square Enix, 2022). The album featured two songs in the Irish language, with lyrics originally written by Chrono Cross director Masato Kato and adapted and translated into Irish by Michael McGlynn and Éabha McMahon. Recordings were completed remotely between Dublin and Tokyo in January 2020, with the game's release delayed by Covid-19. McGlynn created a video for Square Enix to accompany the release in early 2022.
Aisling said “being able to work on this project with Mitsuda-san and arranger Mariam Abounassr was truly an incredible experience, one I will definitely hold close to my heart for the rest of my life. With the help of my father Michael and cousin Éabha, I was able to become a part of the magical story of Chrono Cross.”
Joanne Hogg, Yasunori Mitsuda and Michael at the press conference after the performances.
Xenoblade Chronicles III - Mariam, Keita Korematsu and Mitsuda in Tokyo, Michael, Lauren, Brian & Aisling in Dublin.
Sara Weeda sings “A Step Away” from Xenoblade III from the official Nintendo X account launch
In 2021 Mitsuda's team came back to ANÚNA again, this time for Xenoblade Chronicles III (Nintendo, 2022). Sara Weeda sang two key songs on the soundtrack. Aisling McGlynn and Lauren McGlynn also feature throughout the game, their voices representing the characters Ouroboros and Mobius respectively. Sara spoke of her pride in the project: "I am honoured to have worked with composer Yasunori Mitsuda, whose music takes the game's storyline to a whole new level."
"A Step Away" is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda with lyrics by Tetsuya Takahashi, and plays when the Ouroboros are imprisoned by Moebius in Agnus Castle. "Where We Belong" is the ending theme, also composed by Mitsuda with lyrics by Takahashi, and plays in the final scene before the credits where the main characters say goodbye before the worlds split.
Lauren and Aisling McGlynn also appear on the soundtrack of Delicious in Dungeon (ダンジョン飯 / Danjon Meshi), the highly acclaimed anime series produced by Studio Trigger and available on Netflix worldwide. The score was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda in collaboration with Shunsuke Tsuchiya, with vocal direction by Michael McGlynn and Lucy Champion. The original soundtrack was released on 24 July 2024 by Kadokawa. Manga author Ryoko Kui had specifically requested Mitsuda as composer, citing his soundtrack for Chrono Cross as her inspiration, which brought the collaboration full circle both historically and sonically.
Aisling and Cian O’Donnell of ANÚNA appears as a vocalist on the soundtrack of Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf (狼と香辛料, Ookami to Koushinryou), the 2024 anime produced by Passione, with music composed by Kevin Penkin. The soundtrack was released across three volumes in 2024 by Toho Co., Ltd.
Composers and artists are creating new worlds that become more complex and immersive with each passing day. However, that does not mean that the power of this music can only be experienced within the context of gameplay. Far from it. All over the world a generation of young people who traversed these imaginary worlds have grown with this music as part of their deepest and most precious experiences. And that brings me full circle.
The week before her final school exams Aisling travelled over to the Royal Albert Hall in London to perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra led by Eimear Noone bringing us full circle to Diablo III. Eimear has trail-blazed as a female conductor across the world, and been instrumental in bringing this music to an audience that hungers for the memories that are carried within this powerful and beautiful art form.
Aisling & Eimear on stage at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Dresses by Claire Garvey.