Various Artists
The Twilight Saga — Breaking Dawn Part I Soundtrack
Chop Shop/Atlantic
By Al Kaufman
While the Twilight movie series caters to teenage girls who find nothing more romantic than sleeping with 500-year-old vampires who wear glitter, the soundtracks aim for a wider audience. Past releases have helped aid the careers of the likes of Lykke Li and Bon Iver, among others.
The current soundtrack follows the same ideals. The dour dirges are relegated to the end of the CD. In their stead are love songs with pretty harmonies (Imperial Mammoth’s “Requiem on Water”), love songs that are so cute they seem more appropriately suited to the Juno soundtrack from a few years back (Angus and Julia Stone’s “Love Will Take You”), or straight ahead rocking love songs with an ’80s flair (The Features’ “From Now On”).
In addition to that, there is a veritable smorgasbord of pop culture. There’s the safe hip-pop of Theophilus London (“Neighbors”), the wails and screeches of the Belle Brigade (“I Didn’t Mean It”), the wicked blues licks that make up the rocking “Sister Rosetta (2011 Version),” from the Noisettes, the straight ahead pop-rock of The Joy Formidable (“Endtapes”), and the usual trippy stream of consciousness ballad from Iron and Wine (“Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version).”
And for the goth girls, there’s always Christina Perri, who plays the role of the impressionistic romantic when she sings lines like, “I have died everyday waiting for you” in “A Thousand Years.” It’s the perfect song for girls who like their vampires to sparkle. As is Bruno Mars‘ forehead vein popping singing on “It Will Rain.” “I’ll never be your mother’s favorite/Your daddy can’t even look me in the eye,” he exclaims, giving him a hint, just a hint mind you, of danger. And cute danger at that. Perfect.
