A short musical analysis of ISWM from someone who knows nothing about music
so i'm going through iswm again but specifically listening to the music this time, because i've been watching videos about movie music lately, so despite me knowing absolutely nothing about music i'm trying to pretend i do. ANYWAY.
preliminary findings: Yes, Space Is So Cool is EVERYWHERE. it's in the main theme, it's in the scene at the beginning where the crew give you a toast, it's in the noir world, variations of it pop up in almost all the alternate universes in part 2. at the very end, while the first ships are departing for the new planet, you can even hear a subtle version of the 'millions and billions of stars' part of it, which i had never heard before, and thought was really cool. but it's not the only thing going on.
i've been trying to find musical cues for the crew and... i don't know... i want to say there aren't any, because the musical choices are so all over the place, but there definitely are at least one or two. there is for certain a military-style snare drum thing going on for gunther (go to his introduction in 'wake the crew', when he's talking about going 'rat hunting' in 'call an emergency meeting', and his mutiny) and a cymbals effect used pretty often with burt, though this might just be coincidental (again, in his part in 'wake the crew' and a few times in 'call an emergency meeting'). I can't find much for celci, except for a different, 'techier' version of a track we hear a few times as she appears in 'wake the crew'. I'd argue that 'Space Is So Cool' is Mark's cue, and not only for our Mark but EVERY Mark, since not only does (multiple versions of) Mark deliver its reprise, but we also only ever hear it (afaik) when some version of Mark is with us or near us.
theme music is mostly reserved for important moments, with the rest having subtle or no music at all. it's honestly really inconsistent. there is, however, a definite musical language. the warp core has its own music that plays when we are in 'warp core space' when we get the crystal and again when we meet a dying Lady. the scenes on the invincible often utilize similar sounds and musical style to each other, which i realized as i was writing this is variations of the iswm theme that plays in the credits before the last goodbye. the alternate universes are tied together by the familiar, yet different sounds of the 'Space Is So Cool' variants just as they are thematically tied together by the familiar, yet different variants of Mark in them. Even the false 'good' ending in part 1, where we become paranoid and seal the colony away, has the same music as when we emerge and check on the crew at the real ending in part 2. In the true ending, however, the music eventually turns into a more hopeful piece of music as you realize that everything's genuinely okay.
i could go into how i think the background music also acts as a kind of indicator of the Captain's emotions when they are alone and their hands and movements aren't enough to portray how they feel but that's a post for another day and this one's long and rambly enough as it is.
anyway uh yeah. another layer to an already complex project. look for yourself if you don't believe me... maybe you'll find something i missed!
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