It’s hard to imagine we’ll get a better soundtrack this year than that for Jane Schoenbruen’s I Saw the TV Glow. Bringing together yeule, Frances Quinlan, Florist, King Woman, Caroline Polachek, Bartees Strange, Jay Som, The Weather Station, L’Rain, Drab Majesty, Sloppy Jane, and more, with Twin Peaks Roadhouse-esque musical performances in the movie, the soundtrack has now arrived digitally ahead of a vinyl release in July. Meanwhile, the film continues to expand this weekend before going wide next weekend.
I said in my review, “Utterly hypnotic in rhythm from its very first scenes, we hear a haunting motif that will return: Yeule’s cover of Broken Social Scene’s “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” as Owen glides underneath a rainbow elementary school parachute. It’s a transfixing moment of color and sound and sets the stage as we’re whisked into this 1996-set world. We quickly learn of Owen’s fascination with a piece of media he’s never actually seen: The Pink Opaque, a YA sci-fi show that airs at 10:30pm on Saturdays and harbors a resemblance to the likes of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and The Secret World of Alex Mack. Featuring Tara (Lindsay Jordan of Snail Mail, also contributing to the film’s lush, exquisite soundtrack) and Isabel (Helena Howard), the “monster-of-the-week” show follows the two as campgoers who realize they have special powers to fight the big bad, Mr. Melancholy. What could seem cheesy on the surface is sold by Schoenbrun––both the in-show sequences and Owen and Maddy’s passion––with such reverence that the viewer instantly joins in the obsession. The worlds of their outcast reality and ethereal fantasy of the show start to converge. The Pink Opaque’s characters become ciphers for all that our protagonists can’t do in real life. The show’s neon-pink, TV-glow blues, and vibrant purple spill into every corner of Owen’s life, and the narrative evolves to wholly unexpected, startling places.”
Listen below, along with a few music videos.