New Moon Soundtrack Tracklist Announced

It’s hard to believe that just under a year ago I was doing a similar post on my personal blog about the Twilight Soundtrack track list announcement.  The New Moon Soundtrack list has been posted all over the net by now, so the focus of my post isn’t really going to revolve around the list itself so much as my thoughts on the artist choices and Summit’s decision to go with a completely exclusive soundtrack, a rarity in the soundtrack world these days.

Last year I was quick to bash the Twilight Soundtrack on its initial release due to what I felt was a lackluster track list.  Full of previously released songs I didn’t feel that the Twilight soundtrack brought anything special to the table, but in the end the soundtrack wound up on a regular loop in my CD player through the end of 2008 and into the beginning of 2009.  This year I was left with a similar taste in my mouth; not because of reused songs, but because of the choice to use relatively unknown artists on much of the soundtrack.

That being said, I personally have come to love a number of soundtracks that use less mainstream acts to enhance the mood of a film; one of my personal favorites being the Underworld Soundtrack.   So with that in mind I took to the net to find out more about some of the artists I was less familiar with to try and give my insight as a music enthusiast and a lover of Twilight on the New Moon Soundtrack.

Death Cab For Cutie – Meet Me On The Equinox

I am a huge Death Cab For Cutie fan and have been for some time, but Meet Me On The Equinox is probably one of my least liked Death Cab songs to date.  The song lacks a certain dynamic that I have come to love from the band.  Listening to the track my prediction is this song will be heard early on in the film because the mood is too upbeat to come after Edward leaves.

Band of Skulls

As I mentioned early on when it was announced that Band of Skulls would be on the soundtrack, I’m uncertain as to how these guys are going to fit into the mix.  The band possesses a strong classic rock style sound that I find hard picturing in the film.  My thoughts are that the band is doing something completely out of their niche or the instrumental portions of their track will be used for nothing more than ambience in a scene as we heard repeatedly with songs during Twilight.

Thom York

Though Radiohead wasn’t used on the Twilight soundtrack, their song 15 Step made it into the credits of the film and Radiohead frontman Thom York is returning to do a track for New Moon.  While I was skeptical at first of the return of Radiohead I am curious to see what Thom York can do on the soundtrack from a solo perspective.  His strong falsetto and interest in using more ambient music tracks could prove to be a hit with the darker more depressing themes of New Moon.

Lykke Li

An artist that was unknown to me, but I am excited to hear more from, is Swedish electro/alt artist Lykke Li.  Li offers a sound that is already popular throughout Europe top 40 charts that includes a mix of synth, heavy bass, and angelic vocals.  If done right Li could easily provide an ambient shoegaze-like track that could harness the darkness and pain of New Moon. Another interesting fact about Li is that she recently provided a song for the soundtrack to Summit’s summer thriller Sorority Row.

The Killers

The Killers breakthrough album Hot Fuss is one of my favorite alt rock albums of the last five years, sadly after Hot Fuss they have failed to impress me.  If the track provided for New Moon is anything like the bands last two albums it’s sure to be a disappointment.  “Are we humans?  Or are we wolf boys?”

Anya Marina

An interesting choice based on what I listened to this evening.  The tracks I sampled felt like a crossbreed between Lilly Allen and Regina Spektor leaving me to wonder how this sound will play into the New Moon universe.  Mixing poppy rhythms and acoustic guitars on a number of her tracks Marina almost felt to bubbly for the film.

Muse

I love the band, I love their music, and I think they are easily going to become the staple of Twilight soundtracks because of their tie to Stephenie Meyer so regardless of the quality we will have to grin and bear it.  I will say however that Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole was one of the songs that I least expected to work in the Twilight Soundtrack, and it of course wound up making the baseball scene what it was.  Without it I don’t believe that scene would have been as impressive.

Bon Iver and St. Vincent

If after buying the Twilight Soundtrack you explored bands like Iron & Wine a bit further you probably stumbled across the name Bon Iver.  Iver carries the folky acoustic sound heard in much or Iron & Wine’s less poppy work.  The stripped down organic sound of his work is sure to contribute to the melancholy tone of New Moon.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The name fits the sound, as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club bring the harder edge to this list of artists.  I predict we will either see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club amping Bella up when she is trying to be an adrenaline junkie or they will show their softer side to compliment the solemn mood of the film that Summit was looking for on this soundtrack.

Hurricane Bells

The WTF? act of the whole soundtrack is Hurricane Bells.  Search em’ in Google and you’ll find a ton of stuff about their inclusion on the New Moon Soundtrack, but aside from that their presence is pretty lacking.  Their Myspace page labels them as unsigned, so the lack of a backing label could have a lot to do with the lack of web presence.  The inclusion of Hurricane Bells based off of the five tracks I listened to on their Myspace page brings to the surface my initial fear about the New Moon Soundtrack sounding too similar just to keep with the theme of the film.  Hurricane Bells sounds very similar to that of Death Cab For Cutie or The Shins.  An interesting note about the song ‘Monster’ that will be featured on the soundtrack is that it was recorded in the artist’s bedroom according to a blog post on Myspace.

Sea Wolf

What sounds to me like The Bravery meets Muse, meets Coldplay, Sea Wolf reinforces my fears of a lack of variety in musical theme in the film.

Ok Go

Best known for playing on treadmills in the viral video for ‘Here It Goes Again’, Ok Go is another interesting choice for a soundtrack that the studios wanted to tie in heavily to the mood of the film.  Ok Go is a very upbeat band that loads their albums with upbeat alt rock and again I’m at a loss as to where this will tie in well with the film.

Grizzly Bear

Until the tracklist broke for the New Moon Soundtrack, this was nothing more than an animal in the forest.  I know now that Grizzly Bear is in fact an experimental indie band out of Brooklyn, New York.  Listening to the bands songs on both Myspace and iTunes I’ll say this much…It’s fuckin weird.  When they describe themselves as experimental they weren’t kidding. However some of their less experimental tracks remind me a lot of Radiohead.  Because of the amount of other-worldly sounding tracks this band has written I would imagine this is going to be a track that is easily tied in for scene ambience if for nothing more, similar to Blue Foundation’s Eyes on Fire in Twilight.

Editors

Interpol clone, ‘nuff said.  If you’re familiar with Interpol you know how diverse their music can be and with these guys sounding like Interpol I would imagine they are just as diverse.  Whatever Summit needed them to do they probably filled the mold.

Alexandre Desplat

Much like the Bella’s Lullaby on the Twilight Soundtrack, it appears that French composer Alexandre Desplat’s New Moon (The Meadow) will be the lone score piece to make it on to the film soundtrack.  Most recently Desplat composed the score to the film Julie and Julia, but his previous work with director Chris Weitz in The Golden Compass is most likely what brought him on board.

Desplat’s style is much different than Twilight composer Carter Burwell, which has me wondering what sort of feel New Moon will have musically.  My only hope is that Desplat was kind enough to tie in themes from Bella’s Lullaby into the New Moon score.  The theme carried over so often in Twilight that I feel New Moon would be lacking without it.

Again, like with Twilight, I am left both deathly curious and also slightly skeptical of the quality of the soundtrack to New Moon.  Overall I think Summit took a huge risk with this soundtrack by not only making all of the songs exclusive, but also by building a soundtrack of a large number of lesser known and indie artists.  I just don’t feel that even headliners like Death Cab For Cutie, Thom York, and The Killers will be enough to please the teen audience that these films have been aimed at.  However, it could just be that Summit feels that at this point teens will buy it regardless simply because it is branded with the name New Moon.