The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Soundtrack Review

The second piece in the Twilight saga, New Moon, is full of angst. So the music for the film should have that same emo feeling, right? And the soundtrack doesn’t disappoint. It’s full of all the achingly beautiful melodies and indie discontentment you can handle.

But that doesn’t mean it’s without its fun beats. Sea Wolf’s The Violent Hour has a quite lively, catchy sound, despite the moniker. And Monsters by Hurricane Bell grinds with pulsing hard rock riffs, declaring that the “situations are critical.” (And does it seem apropos to have a song from a band with that name on this album to anyone else?)

Of course, the majority of songs on the album give in to that feeling of melancholy. Perhaps the most forlorn of them all is Lykke Li’s Possibility, which is lovely in its haunted, enchanting way. It’s soft and melodic enough to pull at even the toughest of heartstrings. And the simple sound of the piano and earnest vocals in No Sound but the Wind by Editors is equally as haunting.

The first single from this album is Death Cab for Cutie’s Meet Me on the Equinox. If you’ve seen the video, which centers on Kristen Stewart’s Bella and Robert Pattinson’s Edward, then you have a good idea of the movie’s plot. As they say in the song, everything ends. Or is it really a beginning? It was a wise decision to let this song lead the soundtrack, both on the track list and on the video and airwaves. It is a good representation of both the album and what the movie should be.

Muse makes it back on the second soundtrack in this series with a groovy, danceable remix of I Belong To You. As well they should be. After all, author Stephenie Meyer has said they were a huge inspiration for her writing, so it seems fitting they should have a place in all of the movies.

And if you’ve read Meyer’s books, you know how significant the meadow is to the main characters. That significance changes a bit New Moon. And Alexandre Desplat’s New Moon (The Meadow) beautifully captures all the love and longing that location represents for Bella and Edward.

The one thing that is glaringly missing from this soundtrack is music by Robert Pattinson. His two songs on the Twilight soundtrack gave it an authentic, even organic, feel, making the experience of the movie and the music somehow more personal. His unique, melodic voice is missed on this soundtrack.

And this soundtrack is completely different from the music that accompanied the first movie. It is much more introspective and thoughtful. It’s more sad and longing, but with an edge of hopefulness. In many ways, it is more grown up, which makes sense as the characters come into their own. And this fan hopes that the movie captures the spirit of this book as well as this soundtrack does.

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