Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein - Stranger Things Vol. 1

Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
Stranger Things Vol. 1
2016
Spotify

I don't often review soundtracks, let alone TV show soundtracks, but this work from Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, the two other members of S U R V I V E along with the Duffer Brothers, have done something really special here. S U R V I V E as a band is a bit hard to approach. Their synthy deep tech love makes for songs that are fascinating but hard to market to the public, or cause a big stir. The Stranger Things Vol. 1 soundtrack however is every different. It is not simply that you can see the incredible things that transpired on the show in your head when you hear these songs, it's that they draw really raw emotion out of you. There is this totally visceral reaction when you hear the opening track. It's big, but not loud, ominous, but not scary, it pulls all the emotion packed in the show and puts it on audio display. If you listen to the music S U R V I V E has previously released you'll hear that they always circle around this, but never fully deliver, on this soundtrack however, they did it. While the 80s vibe of the show is clearly front and center, the music uses the sounds from the 80s but not the sentiment, that's what makes it so great and gives you the opportunity to listen to these songs outside of the show. "Lay-Z Boy" is so simple yet so inherently pretty it just sucks you in to its orbit and lets you hang around for awhile.

While Stranger Things as a show is highly evocative of 80s touchstones, some would criticize it is even straight up plagiarism, the music pulls the show out of whatever 80s cheese it may be referencing. The track "A Kiss" is sweet and loving yet still manages to maintain the overall unease that the show always keeps hidden in the background. Just like the show you can sense that there is something underneath, below, waiting. The very next song "Castle Byers" shifts from comfort to despair so quickly, but not in a jarring way, just in a really smooth transition. The visual component cannot be taken away, but it seems that even if you had no idea what Stranger Things was the soundtrack is still rich, still engaging enough to make it worth your listen. The album also cooks in terms of pace. Very few tracks are over a minute and a half long so by the time you are able to catch your breath Dixon and Stein have already moved on to the next thing. It is perfect pacing for 2016 even if the sounds are straight from '84. This soundtrack is incredibly special, as is the show, and it proves to the world that Dixon and Stein as well as S U R V I V E are much more than just a TV show, even if their contribution is indispensable.

8.9 out of 10