Twilight Series: New Moon album hits stores
Natalie Fisher
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: Opinion
By Natalie Fisher
Let me start this review with an admission of truth: Yes, I read the Twilight series. A rather forceful friend talked me into it one summer, even though I'd been against it since the book's inception. But I read them and found them fleetingly enjoyable as a guilty pleasure read. I wasn't really a fan of the first film, or the soundtrack, but its fans loved it. Due to the unlikely presence of Radiohead on the first album, I was curious to see what bands would be picked for the New Moon soundtrack.
Here's the weird thing about the New Moon soundtrack-I'm a big fan of almost every artist featured. When I heard that some of my favorite indie-darlings (Death Cab for Cutie, Lykke Li, and Bon Iver) were going to be on the album, I could have cried. It was rather confusing to hear that bands who aren't really mainstream agreed to have their songs on perhaps one of the most mainstream albums of the year. I tried to put this behind me and give the album a fair listen.
The soundtrack begins with a song written specially for the film by the band Death Cab for Cutie. The track is titled "Meet Me on the Equinox," and really surprised me with how good it was. It's more broody and dark than Death Cab for Cutie tends to be, but this just means it will fit well amongst the angst of the film. All songs that follow the opening track just seem to get darker and moodier, and if you've read the book it's easy to follow the story right along with the music.
By Track 11, with a song by Sea Wolf, the soundtrack seems a little happier and lighthearted. I don't want to create any spoilers, but one can only guess that the joyful music is due to an appearance of Edward on the screen. With more conflict and despair comes a track by Grizzly Bear, bringing the mood back down rather swiftly.
Overall, the soundtrack didn't do much for me. It's incredibly depressing, but the devil's advocate part of my brain reminds me that New Moon is one of the saddest in the series. The bright spots were songs by Lykke Li, OK Go, Sea Wolf and Death Cab for Cutie, but even they weren't enough to make me want to listen to the album again. However, as many online critics of the album have already been saying, if this gets everyone and their mom listening to our favorite bands, there's nothing wrong with that. My opinion aside, fans of Twilight will eat this album up, especially after the film comes out on Nov. 20.
Let me start this review with an admission of truth: Yes, I read the Twilight series. A rather forceful friend talked me into it one summer, even though I'd been against it since the book's inception. But I read them and found them fleetingly enjoyable as a guilty pleasure read. I wasn't really a fan of the first film, or the soundtrack, but its fans loved it. Due to the unlikely presence of Radiohead on the first album, I was curious to see what bands would be picked for the New Moon soundtrack.
Here's the weird thing about the New Moon soundtrack-I'm a big fan of almost every artist featured. When I heard that some of my favorite indie-darlings (Death Cab for Cutie, Lykke Li, and Bon Iver) were going to be on the album, I could have cried. It was rather confusing to hear that bands who aren't really mainstream agreed to have their songs on perhaps one of the most mainstream albums of the year. I tried to put this behind me and give the album a fair listen.
The soundtrack begins with a song written specially for the film by the band Death Cab for Cutie. The track is titled "Meet Me on the Equinox," and really surprised me with how good it was. It's more broody and dark than Death Cab for Cutie tends to be, but this just means it will fit well amongst the angst of the film. All songs that follow the opening track just seem to get darker and moodier, and if you've read the book it's easy to follow the story right along with the music.
By Track 11, with a song by Sea Wolf, the soundtrack seems a little happier and lighthearted. I don't want to create any spoilers, but one can only guess that the joyful music is due to an appearance of Edward on the screen. With more conflict and despair comes a track by Grizzly Bear, bringing the mood back down rather swiftly.
Overall, the soundtrack didn't do much for me. It's incredibly depressing, but the devil's advocate part of my brain reminds me that New Moon is one of the saddest in the series. The bright spots were songs by Lykke Li, OK Go, Sea Wolf and Death Cab for Cutie, but even they weren't enough to make me want to listen to the album again. However, as many online critics of the album have already been saying, if this gets everyone and their mom listening to our favorite bands, there's nothing wrong with that. My opinion aside, fans of Twilight will eat this album up, especially after the film comes out on Nov. 20.
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