2017-09-02: soundtrack for maximum FX

A Lynch offering always comes with a carefully tuned sound design. It's often the case his sound content supersedes visual content. And he's not the kind of guy to stick with a folio team and a souped-up soundtrack, though he does those things, too. It's hard to find other creators so at home with manipulating sound at will and effectively bringing to the audience the weird and wonderful things recording artists happen upon but usually keep to themselves as results are just too jarring to fit within most artists' outputs.

The first here is a re-made version of "American Woman" by Muddy Magnolias, except slowed down and mixed into the show so that every kick/snare sounds like a gunshot with the vocals becoming the anguished demons escaping the wounds those gunshots create. Used at least 3 times in the series, this belly-crawl-through-the-slime is as equally effective a musical motif as Peter and the Wolf ever offered.


  Including the source video for this next one would be too much of a spoiler, but even with the audio as evidence unto itself, I think it's pretty certain nobody else slows down Beethoven 5x and then drops it7 minutes into the season's rubber match for a good 3 minutes. Now imagine the fucked up visuals you'd need to see (if you haven't seen episode 8) so that the following "soundtrack" makes sense, and I tell you, truthfully, that is exactly what happens.  
  This last piece, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, needs no manipulation. It's been used many times since its composition in 1960 to soundtrack moments when humanity as a whole is perched upon the metaphorical precipice. And for good reason. Here, Lynch recreates Trinity with CGI and holy hell does it look real. I cut it at the end of Trinity here, but the musical piece and the Lynchian visuals continue for a full 10 minutes.