Music That Is Connected To Twin Peaks, However Loosely
An Exploration
In an interview that has become a modern classic among fans, Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti shares the origin of what was to become one of the most iconic soundtracks in TV history.
In the clip, he recounts the day he sat at the keyboard with David Lynch and wrote “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” playing off the director’s evocative scene-setting (“There’s a soft wind blowing through some Sycamore Trees”), adding layer upon layer to the composition, all culminating in an intense moment of shared passion and joy — “Angelo, that’s Twin Peaks.”
Badalamenti’s description of the event is beautiful and haunting — just like the music itself.
When thinking about music and Twin Peaks, Laura Palmer’s theme is probably the first thing that comes to mind for most fans. Other fairly straightforward choices include the eerie “Sycamore Trees” from “Fire Walk With Me,” “Audrey’s Dance” or simply the opening credits.
But for this article, I wanted to go a different route and showcase a few pieces of music that have some connection to Twin Peaks while allowing for that connection to be pretty loose and far removed from the original context.
None of this was planned. This piece came together because yesterday I happened to listen to three different tracks independently of each other that all had something to do with Twin Peaks. This seemed like too weird a coincidence not to follow up on it somehow.
I’ll start with the original three:
“Hyperborea” by Biosphere: This track comes from Biosphere’s 1997 album “Substrata”. A fascinating record beyond the Twin Peaks connection combines arctic field recordings, processed sounds, and ambient music to create a dense atmosphere that — at the risk of going for the obvious here — can only be described as icy. “Hyperborea” samples the scene in which Major Briggs recalls a vision that filled him with a “tremendous feeling of optimism,” one of the many times this album explores the tension between a generally dark tone and lighter, more uplifting elements.
“Leo Needs A New Pair Of Shoes” by Ben Frost: I’ve been a fan of Ben Frost’s album “By The Throat” ever since 2010— having originally been introduced to it via WNYC’s New Sounds and actually purchasing a physical copy on CD! But for the longest time I had not picked up on the Twin Peaks reference. Maybe I’m just sloppy, but I like to tell myself it’s because “Leo Needs A New Pair Of Shoes!” has to be one of the most obscure quotes Ben Frost could have picked. The line is said by Leo Johnson while talking to his two teenage drug runners in the woods.
The scene is important, but the quote has definitely never reached the level of fame of “That gum you like is going to come back in style” or “There’s a sort of evil out there.” The album as a whole has many parallels to Biosphere’s release as well — using field recordings that are heavily processed and supplemented by sparse but intense instrumentation — though the overall tone is a bit more sinister.
“Damn Fine Coffee” by mtbrd: This song regularly appears on various “chillhop” and “beats to relax to” playlists on YouTube, and it’s not hard to see why. After being confronted with the dark and haunting side of Twin Peaks in the first two examples, we deserve to take a break and indulge in the simple pleasures of life. Sit back, relax, enjoy a cup of coffee, and listen to this song.
After listening to those three tracks I kept digging and came across a few more examples:
“Build A Fire” by The KLF: This one took me a bit longer to find than I had anticipated. I vividly remembered hearing parts of the Twin Peaks theme on a KLF track, but I had convinced myself that it was on “Chill Out” and not “The White Room” — so I listened to “Chill Out” all the way through twice before entertaining the possibility that I might have made a mistake and should look elsewhere. (In retrospect, I could have just googled it — but where’s the fun in that?).
I suppose it makes sense since I feel a much stronger connection to “Chill Out” than I do to “The White Room” as a whole, but “Build A Fire” is a stunning track that only uses a few notes from the theme and works it into the music perfectly — creating something new that is pretty far removed from the original context of the sample.
“The Things I Tell You” by Biosphere: I held back on this information above, but there is actually a second Twin Peaks track on “Substrata”, the simultaneously ominous and inviting “The Things I Tell You”. It samples The Giant’s prophecy, “The things I tell you will not be wrong,” and weaves them into the music in a way that mirrors the uncertainty and multiple possible interpretations of the scene.
“A Real Indication” by Thought Gang (David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti): To close out this list, I just had to go back to Badalamenti and Lynch. This song has the most direct Twin Peaks connection since it actually appeared in Fire Walk With Me, but I’m including it here as a standalone piece for two reasons. One, the music video is just amazing and part of the appeal. Two, it’s the perfect example of Twin Peaks’ sense of humor.
The show is often praised for its ability to create a dark and slightly menacing atmosphere (rightly so), but much less frequently for its downright absurd and hilarious scenes — but when I watch it, I find myself laughing at least as much as being enveloped in feelings of unease. This track and video are the perfect example of this.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story!
If you would like to read my most recent article on The Riff, click here:
I’ve also written a short review of Mark Frost’s “The Secret History Of Twin Peaks” book over at The Book Cafe. You can find it here:
