In July 2025, we featured the first volume of Dren McDonald’s Stay: Forever Home soundtrack, Chaos. Now, volume two, Cozy, has been unleashed onto the world.
By Graeme Smith
Feature artwork by Tyler Schatz Design
It’s a tricky thing to make a soundtrack used primarily for ambience in a video game stand alone. Yet some of the best soundtracks do it incredibly well. Nobuo Uematsu’s music for the Final Fantasy series are about as beloved as the games. There are even concerts devoted to it.
Dren McDonald might not yet have the same fanbase, but his compositions for Stay: Forever Home are certainly worth some attention. Volume One, Chaos, introduced us to ‘The Otherlands’ and now Cozy invites us deeper into its peaceful side.
As in the first volume, McDonald has teamed up with singers Sophia James (American Idol, Disney) and Amelie Anna (Death Stranding 2, Destiny 2) to add a vocal layer to the ambience. There are no lyrics, just soft expressive vocalisations that float ethereally, peopling the world that McDonald is creating.
The pieces on Cozy lean into the gentler side of Stay: Forever Home but there is still plenty of nuance. A Home In Between is an early reflective moment. Back Home Lullaby is suitably soporific. A Floating Portal In My Room injects some psychedelic mystery.
Video game soundtracks need to be about world building and McDonald does this well. Listening to pieces like Night Time Explorations and the whimsical The Otherland’s Floating Music Spore truly make you feel you are wandering around an immersive fantasy world.
As I mentioned in my review of Chaos, sound plays a big part in Stay: Forever Home and is a component of how the player interacts with the world and their furry friend, Ember. The point is just as relevant to Cozy, and McDonald has incorporated this subtly into his compositions. You can almost visualise the interactive elements as you listen.
McDonald’s attention to detail, shrewd collaboration instincts, and ability to paint pictures with music all adds up to a soundtrack that is a world of its own. In fact, I’d encourage listeners to try it without necessarily playing the game, as it means noticing the subtlety without distraction.
Oh, and wear headphones, because the Dolby Atmos mixes sound lush through them.
If you want to keep up with Dren McDonald you can do so by following him on Bluesky and YouTube.
Stay: Forever Home Vol. 2, Cozy is out now on Appearing Records, and you can listen to it below.
