Music by KYLE DIXON AND MICHAEL STEIN
Lakeshore Records and Invada Records have released the Stranger Things 3—Original Score from the Netflix Original Series featuring music by Emmy-winning and two-time Grammy-nominated composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, digitally on June 28. Half of the Austin band S U R V I V E, Dixon and Stein have been on board with the series since the first season creating strikingly dynamic music that has become a trademark of the show. In Season 3 evil has not ended, it has evolved and the duo has evolved with it as they continue to explore new sonic territory and instrumentation, such as the pop sensibilities and melancholic undertones of 50’s doo-wop, that go beyond the 80’s & 90’s R&B inflections of past seasons. They also return to familiar themes that are elevated by bold stylized reworkings that reflect the growth of the characters and intensity of the new storyline. Lakeshore Records and Invada Records will release the album digitally worldwide on June 28 with CD and vinyl versions forthcoming. Stranger Things 3 will debut on Netflix on July 4.
It’s 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana, and summer’s heating up. School’s out, there’s a brand-new mall in town, and the Hawkins crew are on the cusp of adulthood. Romance blossoms and complicates the group’s dynamic, and they’ll have to figure out how to grow up without growing apart. Meanwhile, danger looms. When the town’s threatened by enemies old and new, Eleven and her friends are reminded that evil never ends; it evolves. Now they’ll have to band together to survive, and remember that friendship is always stronger than fear.
“With the Season 3 soundtrack, we’ve made an album that doesn’t feel like a ‘score’ necessarily, but one that feels more like a stand-alone record than a collection of brief cues. We’ve incorporated the main narrative elements of the series and stayed true to the original sound while at the same time expanding on our musical palette—we often pushed it to the limit. We’ve really made an effort to curate this album to showcase the moments we think are really special.”
ABOUT KYLE DIXON AND MICHAEL STEIN
Emmy-winning and two times Grammy-nominated Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, half of the Austin band S U R V I V E, scored the biggest pop culture phenomenon of recent years: the Netflix series Stranger Things. The duo’s dreamy, throwback score helped sell the nostalgic ode to when Carpenter and Spielberg were the tastemakers of the horror/fantasy genre. Series creators The Duffer Brothers fell in love with the band’s albums, which spin classic synths into a distinctly modern sound— and the resulting alchemy produced the most talked-about soundtrack of the year that garnered a Primetime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, two Grammy nominations for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, an ASCAP Composers’ Choice Award nomination for TV Composer(s) of the Year, and a World Soundtrack Award nomination for TV Composer(s) of the Year. The duo completed work on Stranger Things 2 in 2017, which Pitchfork commented, “while staying true to the series’ airtight aesthetic, Dixon and Stein continue to find ways to push beyond.”
2018 saw Dixon and Stein explore the worlds of Virtual Reality, with the Darren Aronofsky produced VR series, Spheres, written & directed by Eliza McNitt. The episodic run launched at the Sundance Film Festival with Spheres: Songs of Spacetime, which focuses on black holes and their roles in the universe, and won Best VR at the 2018 Venice Biennale Film Festival.
Dixon and Stein scored Matthew Libatique’s short film A Different Beyond, which was shot using early models of the new Fujifilm X-T3 camera system. Early 2019 brings us three new projects. First, National Geographic’s Valley of the Boom, a hybrid documentary-drama chronicling the early days of Silicon Valley. The duo also scored the three-part British series Butterfly which addresses the sensitive, contemporary issue of gender dysphoria which was recently picked up by Hulu in the US. Dixon & Stein recently attended the Sundance Film Festival in support of their debut feature film score for Rashid Johnson’s dramatic directorial debut Native Son, the festival’s opening night film which subsequently sold to HBO. The two are back on board with Netflix having completed the score to Stranger Things 3.
TRACK LIST
01. Boys and Girls
02. I Like Presents Too
03. Starcourt
04. Blank Makes You Crazy
05. I Need You to Trust Me
06. You’re a Fighter
07. The Ceiling Is Beautiful
08. The First I love You
09. Rats
10. What Did You Do To Him?
11. Find the Source
12. The Silver Cat Feeds
13. Heather’s
14. William
15. Destroying the Castle
16. In the Void
17. Tammy
18. Mirkwood
19. Portal Drill
20. Happy Screams
21. Ruins
22. It’s Just Ice
23. The Door Is Opening
24. Planck’s Constant
25. She’s Gone Home
26. Seven Feet
27. The Week Is Long
28. Sauna Test
29. Six Facts
30. The Trees Are Moving
31. On Their Tracks
32. Not Chinese Food
33. Blueprints
34. Land Deeds
35. Not Kids Anymore
36. Code Red
37. Feel Safe
38. He’s Here
39. Scoops Troop
40. We Don’t Understand Each Other
41. Aftermath
