Soundtrack Review: Lost Season One (2006)

Posted by Jon Blough

June 7, 2009

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Lost Season 1 This is a review of the television score Lost Season One by Michael Giacchino.

“Emotional resonance makes this engaging even for those who have never watched the show”

I LOVE THIS SHOW. Yes, there have been weak spots (almost all greats shows have them), but Lost amazes by emphasizing character development even with its increasing sci-fi tilt. Certainly adding to that emotional core has been Michael Giacchino’s superb score. The music is a rarity amongst television scoring because it actually has an overarching purpose; the music develops multiple ideas and themes throughout an entire season rather than producing situational scoring that dominates most shows of today. I can only speculate about this part, but it would seem such emotional resonance would make this album supremely engaging even for those who have never watched the show.

Three Themes

The smartest thing about this album is that, while it is littered with themes, it is focused on three major ones, thus preventing the listening experience from being a bit scatter-brained (a trend the following albums would also exhibit) The most obvious is the rising-then-falling three-note theme that served as a main theme for this season and would be an emotional reference in the later ones. At its base it is simple, but its performances here are always light and relaxing, like the breath of fresh air that “Credit Where Credit Is Due” is after following three preceding suspense cues and the wonderful percussive backup to the soothing “Navel Gazing”. The second major theme is the one used for more tender or sad moments in this season and mostly for deaths of major characters in later ones. Again, a simple motif, this one a drifting piano theme, but its performances are always given superb emotional heft regardless of instrumentation (“Win One For The Reaper” on piano, “Charlie Hangs Around” on strings, the understated but powerful “Life and Death” on both). The third is the mysterious five-note motif heard in “The Eyeland” that is used mostly for suspense underscore (“Me And My Big Mouth” on piano), though its string aggression and surrounding brass rips are terrifying in the first half of “Charlie Hangs Around”.

Dual Purpose

Yet while the above themes organize the album in a way that anyone could enjoy the rest serves a dual purpose, both as a stylistic expansion for the newcomers and as a way for fans to dissect the many secondary themes. The string-based journey theme in “Hollywood And Vines” gives the score its most adventurous, vibrant cue, while the use of Charlie and Claire’s theme “We’re Friends” makes perhaps the most tender track. Both of Locke’s themes show up; the four-note hunter motif in “Crocodile Locke” sounding more cerebral than you’d expect from the type of cue, while the more emotional theme from the character’s past makes “Locke’d Out Again” build to fantastic heights. The winding motif in “Kate’s Motel” is a fine nod to Bernard Herrmann, whose music was coincidentally used to temp the pilot. However, the mostly singular references do have their limits; Sun’s theme is barely noticeable in counterpoint with the main theme in “Departing Sun” (casual listeners won’t even pick it up), while the sole performance of Claire and Aaron’s theme in “Thinking Clairely” leaves little impression. Additionally, the cutesy “I’ve Got a Plane to Catch” seems out of place, probably a useful cue for the scene but not the album’s atmosphere. Yet there is no easy way to make such organization better. Have too many themes and the album is all over the place. Have too few references and fans will cry foul. Although the arrangement is not perfect it is still very good and far stronger than any television score has a right to be.

Conclusion

Even with all the menace, emotions, and themes being thrown around, the music for Lost has always been more minimal than overwhelming. That’s not to say there aren’t more blatant moments. Commercial breaks for the show are almost always preceded by brass fall-offs. There’s a good slice of exciting action, like pounding tracks “Run Like, Um…Hell?” and “Monsters Are Such Innteresting People” and the diverse percussive ensemble in “Getting Ethan”, as well as menacing suspense (“Proper Motivation”). But the softer character-driven approach receives the most performances and is the obvious selling point, especially when the final two cues brilliantly cap off that style. “Parting Words” builds three new uplifting motifs into a triumphant soaring close while “Oceanic 815” combines the two major emotional themes into a fond farewell. Certainly my fandom plays a part in how I evaluate this album, but only to assist my understanding of the score’s emotional base. In the end, you’ll be hard pressed to choose what makes you happier: that television scoring can be so affecting, or that I spared you from a review with a bunch of bad puns with the word “lost.”

Album (64:50)
1. Main Title (:16)
2. The Eyeland (1:58)
3. World’s Worst Beach Party (2:44)
4. Credit Where Credit is Due (2:23)
5. Run Like, Um… Hell? (2:21)
6. Hollywood and Vines (1:52)
7. Just Die Already (1:51)
8. Me and My Big Mouth (1:06)
9. Crocodile Locke (1:49)
10. Win One for the Reaper (2:38)
11. Departing Sun (2:42)
12. Charlie Hangs Around (3:17)
13. Navel Gazing (3:24)
14. Proper Motivation (2:00)
15. Run Away! Run Away! (:30)
16. We’re Friends (1:32)
17. Getting Ethan (1:35)
18. Thinking Clairely (1:04)
19. Locke’d Out Again (3:30)
20. Life and Death (3:39)
21. Booneral (1:38)
22. Shannonigans (2:25)
23. Kate’s Motel (2:07)
24. I’ve Got a Plane to Catch (2:37)
25. Monsters are Such Innteresting People (1:29)
26. Parting Words (5:30)
27. Oceanic 815 (6:11)