Now that we have all devoured the first season of Stranger Things as carnivorously as the Demogorgon, Netflix has listened to the show’s fans and released the first of two volumes of the shows spectral, spooky synth score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. We can finally stop only listening to the ten-minute extended version of the incredibly eerie theme song, and sink our teeth into samples of 36 new tracks below.
Ever since Stranger Things debuted, the one thing that was unanimously beloved–you know, aside from the aesthetic, Winona Ryder, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo’s toothless smile, and the overt references to its source material–was its score. Composed by Dixon and Stein from the Texas-based synth band S U R V I V E, the soundtrack varies from deeply disconcerting sprawls (“Walking Through The Upside Down”), to sweet odes to young love (“A Kiss”), to highly suspenseful drones (“Hawkins Lab”). Because the story did such a seamless job of weaving in the duo’s music throughout the show’s fast-paced 8 episodes, it’s really jarring to hear all this music as a standalone release, removed from Eleven’s telepathic spectacles and Hopper and Joyce’s valiant excursion into the Upside Down. This is by no means a bad thing, however, and will make for the perfect Halloween playlist as fall approaches and everyone tries to figure out which character to dress up as.
The second volume of the Stranger Things soundtrack will arrive digitally on Friday, August 19, and I imagine it will include some music not used in the show, since both Dixon and Stein have mentioned they wrote more material than was used in the first season. I guess waiting for next Friday is Stranger Thing‘s final show of suspense for its first season.
Since you can only sample snippets of the soundtrack above, do you guys plan to buy it? You definitely already bought it though, right? Let us know which tracks you are enjoying thus far in the comments and on Twitter.
Image: Netflix
Matt Grosinger is the music editor of Nerdist and FOR SURE would have been a quick victim of the monster. Shouts to Barb.
