Ideas

Will depend on what our stages actually end up consisting of and looking like, but here's some things we can start working with now:

Some combination of analog synths (Stranger Things) and strings (Journey the Game, Maniac)? Or possibly just synths that sound like strings
All based on one theme that has variations (Journey does this with a central theme throughout its soundtrack)—rather than completely different themes for each stage
Close integration between soundtrack and programming, where the music dynamically unfolds alongside player progress—short pieces of music that loop and layer on or hand off melodies to one another in a "relay" manner as the player moves through areas
- Ideally giving the player a greater feeling of an emotional arc, a sense of importance to the progress they're making

Central influences

Emotional motifs for feelings of motherhood and care-taking, especially in Mother's Pledge
Play Impossible Worlds from the beginning—it starts out calmly with "real world" sounds (birds chirping) then goes into an ambient thing, all before the lo-fi beats come in
Occasional blurring of boundaries between diegetic and non-diegetic sound (sound presented as coming from inside the game world vs. sound presented as coming from the score) with faint environmental noises

Sound design

Little satisfying tactile sounds in every interaction
Thundering sonic booms that make the player feel part of something larger than them and the world feel very functionally complex @9:10

Echo-y chirps that kind of zip in and out
Delicate notes that feel soft and playful
Harmonizes with Monument Valley 2
Play Bundle of Joy from beginning to hear main sentimental theme (the piano melody)

Central theme (the cello solo in Nascence) with variations throughout the rest of the soundtrack
- Like in Second Confluence and Road of Trials
Apotheosis concludes the journey in a very sensational and uplifting way

Sound design

Realistic sounding environment despite non-photorealistic visuals
- Footsteps on sand
Player interactions include communicating with different notes

Emotional swells in the first second of Frank Ocean's Pink + White, the melody of If Beale Street Could Talk's Eden, and the orchestral chords in the beginning of Jackie's Intro
I'm interested in how Intro has a falling sensation
Eden is just really sweet and caring
A brief emotional sensation like in first second of Pink+White could be used for certain moments of the game like seeing the sheep/finishing a level