Twin Peaks: The Missing Music (SPOILERS)

[BOB1]

I realise that here and there there was talk about the lack of music in the Return, why and what for, and is it coming back and when.
However, I find it impossible to follow these 40+, 60+ and longer+ page threads so I'd rather have a separate topic on that.

What we know is that the music is hardly there. Obviously on purpose. What is the purpose, though? Artistic freedom and all, sure, let the creator do what he likes but I do not have to like it all the same. And in this case I definitely don't like it and the lack of music is one of the factors which made it hard for me to watch... so far. Cause I mean, people have suggested that the music will come back. That some turn in the plot will bring it back. That sounds like a great dramatic idea. The pain of deprivation (I've felt it quite literally while watching) would then start to make sense. Perhaps.

But is the music going to come back? In a really meaningful way?

And is it going to be the old music or something new?

[yaxomoxay]

I think it's going to come back with the town.
I believe that Lynch is making us starve before feeding us.

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[BOB1]

For this, the town has to come back, too.

It seemed to me to come back in the final Roadhouse scene of Ep.2... with James, yes. And for one I did like the music from the stage even though it was nothing like Julee Cruisse. it worked for me, though.

However, I hear that Eps. 3 and 4 are still pretty much music-less. So the come back hasn't been very effective so far, is that right? More starvation planned for he audience perhaps

[derekfnord]

I think music is a very human thing, and thus far, scenes have largely involved/focussed on non-human spirits. I think as the series progresses, and the viewers become more enmeshed in the world of humans and human problems again, the amount of music in the soundtrack will increase.

[TheAlien]

I think the lack of background music for most of it so far, adds to the atmosphere

[Ragnell]

I have a theory about this, but I have to talk about Episode 4 to explain it so I'll cover it with a spoiler font.

Spoiler:

The two classic music cues I caught were Hawk searching the woods and finding Glastonbury Grove in 1/2, and Bobby seeing Laura's picture in Ep 3. From that, I believe the music has something to do with the supernatural elements at Twin Peaks, particularly Laura and the Black Lodge. Glastonbury Grove was not just dark it looked... unused somehow. It was fresher in the series. Around the scene with Bobby they introduced a character, Chad, one of the new deputies, who was a skeptic. He mocked the Log Lady, he clearly didn't want to give the supernatural the benefit of the doubt like Frank Truman was willing to. Back in the old series, though, no character from inside Twin Peaks seems to ever react so derisively to the Log Lady. She's strange, yes, but they accept her and every time she delivers a message they listen and take it into account. It's possible that, over the last 25 years things have gone a little mundane in Twin Peaks and the music is marking moments when the supernatural is seeping back into the world. Maybe it has to do with the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that happened in season 2 (the one that in real life wasn't happening until 2000), and the 25 year spread since then.

[claaa7]

^ there's been one more place where Badalamenti's original classic score has been used (as well as the intro opening theme for each episode), and that is when we are introduced to the LA manager (played by Dan from Mulholland Drive), we hear Grady Tate's classic drum shuffle over the establishing shot of the city overscape.

on my most recent rewatch i watched it turned up with headphones and there are PLENTY of incredible atmospheric sound design/music almost throughout that really creates a dreadful atmosphere that's VERY Similar to the way Lynch uses that type of music and synth droning + industrial sounds to create an unsettling mood in "Eraserhead", "Mulholland Drive" and "Inland Empire" and it makes the musical tracks stand out that much more. like the slowed down "American Woman" that introduces Bad Cooper and his night ride, the "Dark Mood Woods" theme (which is just a notch more traditionally musical than much of what is already used all over the show), "Take Five" at Cooper's breakfast and "Laura Palmer's Theme" in the police station. this coupled with several ending tracks played live at the Bang Bang Bar to close parts is the way i think the show will treat music and sound design and I absolutely love it.

i remember binge watching the original series and thinking the musical cues was WAY overused in many episodes.. especially since it was the same music repeated in each episode. mostly when Lynch stepped in for an episode he coaxed new music from Badalamenti like "Dark Mood Woods", "Sycamore Trees" and "New Shoes" + the Julee Cruise cuts. and that was always an improvement in the atmosphere to me.

one thing though - in the first episode there is supposedly a new Badalamenti/Lynch collaboration called "Frank 2000" which i suppose is a sort of sequel to "Blue Frank", any idea when this track is used in the episode?

[BOB1]

there are PLENTY of incredible atmospheric sound design/music almost throughout that really creates a dreadful atmosphere that's VERY Similar to the way Lynch uses that type of music and synth droning + industrial sounds to create an unsettling mood in "Eraserhead", "Mulholland Drive" and "Inland Empire"

Oh absolutely! The three films you mentioned are exactly those where sounds seem to be more important than music. However, it's probably not what personally I appreciate most about Lynch. Or rather: I totally appreciate the way Lynch uses sounds. What they did with Alan Splet on Eraserhead at the very start of their career was downright amazing! Still, I prefer it when those sounds are just a part of the audial effects that create atmosphere to when they are so overwhelming. And they are overwhelming in Eraserhead and Inland Empire and that's probably one of the reasons why I would name these two films as the most difficult in Lynchworld for me to watch. And clearly it applies to the new episodes as well.

[Henrys Hair]

I read something about two new soundtracks being released. Presumably one is made up of the Roadhouse songs, the other original score. The only problem with that theory is that there hasn't been enough original score (so far) to make an EP let alone an album, but could be a sign that there'll be more from Badalamenti as the series progresses.

[Mr. Reindeer]

I'm also curious about the pieces "Hotel Tango" (Dean Hurley) and "One Dog Bark" (Thought Gang) which appear in the credits of TMP. The former is obviously the Jeffries scene, not sure where the Thought Gang piece appears. I assume that Hurley's involvement means the tango was composed especially for the 2014 TMP release, not the original film. Wonder if the Thought Gang piece was recorded for FWWM, for the new show, or specifically for TMP? And if these tracks will be included on any "Return" soundtrack release?

[claaa7]

i like the lack of music in the story so far, but t's a bit strange considering one of the first trailers for the return made it a selling point showing Angelo's return to composing for the series.

[BOB1]

Well I sure hope he does! Cause while I liked episodes 3 and 4, I definitely still DON'T like the lack of music. (I'm actually very fond of those Roadhouse scenes and the ends of episodes; they're not particualrly good perhaps but they make me feel better!)

[ThumbsUp]

Folks on YouTube have added the old music to the new scenes and I dislike it. The scenes feel way more dumbed-down and guided, in a bad way. Telling me what to feel and when to feel it. Like the scene when Evil Coop is squishing Jack's face. It makes the reveal in the next scene that he killed Jack all the more surprising, and ominous or creepy music during the face-squishing would have spoiled that.

Edit: Ah, just saw there's a whole thread about the dubbed in music.

[Skip Bittman]

I really love the ambient drones. Lynch always knew what he was doing where sound design is concerned. I don't see that changing!

[Sidgwick]

I firmly believe the lack of music is a deliberate omission, through deduction and intuition.

We know Badalamenti is releasing a new soundtrack later this year, so we know that work must be in the series at some point. Rather it emotionally coincide with Cooper's return than have Laura Palmer's Theme spanked in, say, any of the ominous South Dakota scenes.

I found the use of Take Five very interesting. There's no way Angelo couldn't have penned something fitting for the scene. I think Take Five was used to mirror the scene's feeling of deja vu - it was jazzy, but not Peaks jazzy, and purposefully so. Famous enough to avoid confusion.

This reading also supports that music will fill the air when the real Coop breathes it.