Sep 082021
 
indianna hale falling

I was eight when Twin Peaks captured America’s imagination. I was too young to be allowed to watch it, but I still could feel the excitement this strange phenomenon was creating. At some point, I was exposed to the title sequence. So much of what Twin Peaks is, seems to be captured by Angelo Badalamenti’s theme song “Falling” and Julee Cruise’s singing: the mystery of the place, the collision between the mystical and the real, the weird sense of displacement, and the utter camp. Continue reading »

Apr 152014
 

Twin Peaks has one of the most memorable openings in TV history. Italian composer Angelo Badalamenti‘s original, melodramatic song plays over scenic views of the Pacific Northwest town, setting up David Lynch and Mark Frost’s masterful series. Italian instrumentalists Australasia paid homage to their fellow musician with this true-to-form rendition. Continue reading »

Nov 062013
 

There are two distinct elements to the Twin Peaks theme song, elements that are difficult for any artist to balance and for any listener to approach. There’s the theme song as a theme song, as Angelo Badalamenti’s mellow, dreamlike instrumentals that play over shots of Northwestern industrialism and waterfalls as the opening credits roll. Alternately, there’s “Falling” – it’s the same song, but it becomes entirely different when Julee Cruise‘s vocals and David Lynch‘s lyrics are introduced. Understandably, most (if not all) covers of the song opt for the latter. And yet, the listener is still somehow presented with the two different versions. Sometimes, like with last year’s Field Mouse cover, we get covers that are evocative of the opening – covers where the vocals are as ethereal as the instrumentals and the whole thing flows together as one ambient whole. Continue reading »