New Moon, New Music

Looking for some music that doesn't suck? (Yes, that was my attempt at vampire humor. You can roll your eyes now). The music of The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the most surprisingly good soundtrack release of the fall, tastier than a shirtless Robert Pattinson and more complex than Kristen Stewart's acting skills. New Moon, the second installment in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight mega-franchise, centers on the relationship between Bella (the melodramatic Stewart) and the newly muscular, friendly neighborhood werewolf Jacob Black (the still-underage Taylor Lautner), after her beloved vampire/boyfriend/soulmate/whatever Edward (the poor Pattison, who will never be able to live in peace again) leaves her in order to protect her from his family's sexy vampire ways. Pervading the love triangle juiciness is Bella's deep, emo-esque depression over Edward's departure, which inspires some tedious reading, but some pretty great music. For being a series with such mainstream, teenage girl appeal, both the Twilight and New Moon soundtracks contain astonishingly unexpected song choices, featuring mainly under-the-radar, indie bands. For example, Twilight included selections from Iron & Wine, Collective Soul, and Mutemath. That's a far cry from Miley Cyrus; it gives a bit more credibility to the franchise. Music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl) again includes a mix of artists revered in the indie music world (Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead's Thom Yorke), and those who are certainly about to be (Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver & St. Vincent). It's more indie-folk than Twilight's alt-rock, but will surely still win audiences and listeners over. The songs of the New Moon soundtrack reflect the darker themes of the book, surprisingly in a way that does not make one want to stab their eyes out, as the novel sometimes does. You can practically hear Bella's weeping over Lykke Li's whispery, ethereal "Possibility," but at least it's a nice song. And Jacob's thoughts are pretty apparent in Anya Marina's "Satellite Heart," with the lines "so pretty, so smart / such a waste of a young heart / what a pity, what a sham / what's the matter with your man?" As on the Twilight soundtrack, New Moon featured a song by the British band Muse, Meyer's main musical writing inspiration. Their remix of "I Belong to You" is probably the most rock-influenced on the album, with a Bowie-like edge to it. Another highlight on the CD is "Rosyln" by Bon Iver & St. Vincent, a hushed, folk-y duet. The lead single released from the New Moon soundtrack is "Meet Me On the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie. What I appreciate about it is that it's good, classic Death Cab, even though it was written with the movie in mind. It has a very different feel to it than the bombastic rock of Paramore's "Decode," the last film's single. The Killers, on the other hand, deviate from their usual upbeat, post-punk style to provide the rather slow, piano-and-drums-driven "A White Demon Love Song." The songs flow together to form a very cohesive album, since most of them have a similar, acoustic style. My only complaint is that after a while they all seem a little too similar and muted; there's not much you can really sing along to here. Then again, if the point is for us to relate to Bella, we're probably supposed to be too depressed to sing anyway. The album's release date was pushed up a week to Oct. 16, due "to overwhelming and unprecedented demand," according to label Chop Shop/Atlantic. It reached number 2 on the Billboard chart, surpassed only by Michel Buble's Crazy Love. However, it is notable that this was only after three days of release for New Moon, as opposed to a full week of sales for Buble. And the movie doesn't even actually come out until Nov. 20. Overall, the New Moon soundtrack is an atmospheric, romantic indie-lover's dream. You can say what you like about the quality of the films (hint: the latest trailer's nice, histrionic "Edward! Nooo!"), but it's easy to sink your teeth (sorry, I had to) into the solid music choices here.

Grade: B+ Download: "Meet Me On the Equinox" (Death Cab for Cutie), "Satellite Heart" (Anya Marina) "I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)" (Muse)