More than 25 years after the second season ended, "Twin Peaks: The Return" has premiered with an all new soundtrack with it; "Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Soundtrack". Dark, ominous, and nocturnal, the new soundtrack echoes the original, with more than enough changes to keep everything fresh.
Badalamenti's music is dark and washing, with many peaks and troughs. This works with the new season immensely, however; when his soundtrack appears in the new season - which it does less than previous seasons -you know something important is going to occur.
Badalamenti was not alone in creating this soundtrack, though he was the main mind behind it all. Chromatics, Johnny Jewel, David Lynch, and more, have all contributed much to the album. The soundtrack and music itself are both incredibly grand; the numerous minds behind the sounds helping this greatly.
You can feel the mystery and otherworldliness pulsing through the music, with the old pieces managing to bring back hair-raising amounts of nostalgia as well. This mirrors the fact that with this new season comes both a new and old setting; one that is both nostalgic and riveting.
Unrestrained from their past, Lynch and Badalamenti have delved much more deeply in the disturbing part of the series, disregarding the cheery, quirky, cherry pie surface. To pair with this, Badalamenti has scrapped his previous dark jazz themes a bit for a more ambient soundtrack, much like Mulholland Drive's.
Pieces such as "The Chair" and "The Fireman" create ethereal ambient soundscapes that take you to another world; a surreal, dark world, just like Twin Peaks does. These are paired with some of the most emotionally intense pieces ever set to music, such as "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" and "Slow 30's Room". Though both technically not by Badalamenti, they are still genius in the setting of the series that Lynch and Badalamenti have so meticulously crafted together.
Badalamenti is a legend of TV soundtracks, and has been since the first Twin Peaks soundtrack in 1990. Since then, he has maintained that status, though he didn't even need to, through film soundtracks such as "The Straight Story", another by Lynch. With the new "Twin Peaks: Limited Events Series Soundtrack" score, however, Badalamenti somehow reaches the heights he originally did in 1990, showing the world that he somehow may be even more of a talented genius than once thought.
All in all, "Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Soundtrack" suits the new season perfectly, capturing everything that makes Twin Peaks the legendary series it is and more. A maggot-filled and rotting filled center mystery veiled by spunk; Twin Peaks and its music is back and as good as ever. If any soundtrack can make you scared for your life, this is the one.
