What’s more popular, the Twin Peaks television show or the Twin Peaks soundtrack?  As much as I’m a massive fan of David Lynch, there is no Twin Peaks without the sumptuous, nightmare melodramatic score that accompanies it, courtesy of composer Angelo Badalamenti.  Moving between soap opera and fever dream, cool jazz to ethereal ballad, the music has escaped the confines of the show it was created for to mirror a reality where we are increasingly having to navigate through the unbelievable. Is there anything more ferrying and beautiful at the same time?

This music has been a constant companion to me for decades.  Twin Peaks came out when I was a senior in high school, and the talk about “who killed Laura Palmer?” was overshadowed by people talking about the music.  It was also one of the fist CDs I ever purchased, having finally got a portable CD player around the same time (I think my other two purchases at that time were compilations from Jethro Tull and Blue Öyster Cult).  I haven’t found a situation where the Twin Peaks soundtrack hasn’t been effective, and the two Julee Cruise songs are just icing on the cake.