After a short break, Art of the Score enters the new year with a trip to the Upside Down to take a close listen to Stranger Things. With the help of synth expert, musician, and podcaster Seja Vogel, we pull apart this wonderfully analogue score, its influences, and how it all works over the course of Season One of the Netflix hit.

Episode notes:

2:35 – Welcome to special guest Seja Vogel. Find Seja’s podcast, ‘Hear Sej’ here (https://itunes.apple.com/bw/podcast/hearsej/id1168366353?mt=2), and her amazing Etsy store for felt synth models here (https://www.etsy.com/shop/pulsewidth).

5:20 – Into the nostalgic world of Stranger Things

8:41 – The ‘nostalgia film’ and Fredric Jameson

10:30 – Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon and their analogue synth band S U R V I V E

13:24 – ‘Dirge’, the track that formed the Stranger Things sound

15:05 – The influences and musical tools of S U R V I V E

19:00 – How the music works in Stranger Things – a scene comparison with Williams’ E.T.

25:14 – The main title – is it E minor or C major?

28:51 – Seja breaks down the synths involved

31:47 – Seja’s meticulous reconstruction of the Main Title

34:00 – Square waves and pulse waves, filter sweeps and resonance

44:33 – ‘Kids’ and keying between worlds

51:55 – Nancy and Barb

55:06 – Eleven’s theme and its development throughout season one

1:05:45 – Lay-Z-Boy couch theme

1:10:20 – The Upside Down

1:13:55 – The Demogorgon

1:18:11 – Searching the woods

1:20:42 – The government evildoers in portamento bass

1:26:37 – ‘This isn’t you’

1:32:01 – Linking sound with image – was Stranger Things written to footage?

1:35:45 – How each kiss is scored

1:40:04 – Pop music in Stranger Things: The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go?

1:44:02 – Stranger Things’ secret pop: We Can Be Heroes

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