Twin Peaks Then and Now: Autonomy and Association

My stint as a record store employee in the late 80s and early 90s had a big impact on widening my taste in popular styles, but in retrospect, my preferences for soundtracks and instrumental music was still relatively narrow. Shortly after my good friend Snoopy and I invented binge-watching on a now well-worn Twin Peaks VHS box set, however, I purchased the Twin Peaks soundtrack. 

It might have seemed a bit incongruous with the rest of my collection back then, but Angelo Badalamenti’s unique mix of environmental synthesizers, emotive piano, dreamy pop, and dark four-dimensional jazz caused this soundtrack to emerge as a personal favorite that endures as a classic to this day. I used to put it on headphones and go on walkabouts, pretending like I could see into the inner worlds of people passing by and perceive the whispers that exist outside of everyday existence.



It was this album that allowed me to see the fascinating paradox that lies at the root of any good soundtrack. The various tracks on the Twin Peaks OST are able to stand on their own merit as self-encapsulated compositions, but are also inextricably bound to the show’s uniquely surreal narrative. While various tracks serve a multiplicity of purposes throughout the show’s run, no singular track sums up Twin Peaks more effectively than Laura Palmer’s Theme.  Its seamless travels through cycles of melodramatic ecstasy and sinister darkness unerringly reflects both the character Laura Palmer and the show as a whole.



The Twin Peaks soundtrack broke me out of a flattened and somewhat limiting rock sensibility that laid at the very foundation of my musical identity. It's effectiveness in bringing the playfully surreal tone of the show back to life for the listener is, in its own way, as masterful as anything produced by King Crimson’s technique or Jellyfish’s songwriting.  It ended up playing a very important role in my musical history, so it is understandable that when the new series was announced and Badalamenti was confirmed as its composer, I was very eager to get its soundtrack in rotation as soon as possible.

The burning question on my mind, of course, was whether or not the new series soundtrack would strike the balance between autonomy and association as effectively as the original. Although it similarly connects with the narrative of the new series, it doesn’t stand on its own as effectively as its predecessor, which is, again paradoxically, due to a change in the show’s narrative approach. David Lynch’s increased creative control in this new run has resulted in a darker, more ethereal, and often impenetrable version of Twin Peaks. Badalamenti’s new cues reflect this with less melodic, more ambient compositions.



There are other distinguishing factors that, I think, also have something to do with Lynch’s greater creative control. With the exception of the original Twin Peaks OST, most of Lynch’s soundtracks are usually a mix of composed musical cues and curated tracks, and the soundtrack for Twin Peaks: The Return is aligned with this tradition. Badalamenti’s cues are prominent, but I admit that I am a bit disappointed that the soundtrack is not entirely his music. The curated tracks pulled in from other sources, however, play significant roles throughout the series and would be noticeable in their absence.   As an example, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, which is presented in its entirety on the soundtrack, and used to devastating effect in the show.



Clearly, patience is the name of the game with the new series, and subsequently there are portions of the soundtrack that require a similar mindset. While the “coffee and cherry pie” crowd might have been largely chased off by this new approach, I found it compelling, if not always entertaining.  Entertainment, however, at least in the superficial sense, is perhaps not the immediate point of Twin Peaks: The Return.  The real value of David Lynch’s idiosyncratic style, and what makes this run so appealing, is that it demands that the viewer participate in creating meaning. Valued on this criterion, Twin Peaks: the Return was an unmitigated success, and its soundtrack is similarly successful in capturing its open-ended mystery.