The role of music in David Lynch’s world is as intrinsic to the finished creation as any character, shot, or bit of dialogue. As explored in discussion with the director as well as his collaborators and admirers last year, Lynch has spawned not only a generation of filmmakers obsessed with his visual aesthetic but also one of musicians infatuated with his sonic touch. Perhaps more than any other filmmaker, he has a musical language.
Of all the music Lynch has worked on, beginning with Eraserhead in 1977, it is his “Twin Peaks” soundtrack with longtime musical collaborator Angelo Badalamenti that has won the most affection. As the show’s long-awaited third season premieres this Sunday on Showtime, artists are still showing their love for the music that floated through the little town of Twin Peaks like a heady fog. In the last week, Flying Lotus released a remix of the theme song and Jon Hopkins posted a video of himself playing the piece on the piano. The fascination with the show’s music has remained pretty much consistent since its 1990 premiere, from Marilyn Mansonsampling various components back in 1994 to (season-three guest star) Sky Ferreiracovering Julee Cruise’s theme-adaptation “Falling” just last year. The score’s cult status is well established by now, but the mainstream has dabbled in it as well: chart-topping pop group Bastille named its debut release Laura Palmer EP, later sampling “Falling,” albeit rather horrendously.
Let’s look at a selection of songs sampling “Twin Peaks” that pull it off a bit better, beguiling the listener with a hint of Lynch.
The KLF, “Build a Fire” (1991)
The KLF’s final album, The White Room, was originally intended to soundtrack a road film, so it makes sense that this White Room cut opens like some bizarre sci-fi western: all pedal steel, before a sample of “Twin Peaks Theme” and a gentle fizz of electronics washes over it. The song constantly shifts, becoming something altogether different once Maxine Harvey’s vocals move in and soar. All the while, the steady repetition of “Twin Peaks Theme” maintains the song’s gentle pulse. Consider this a stellar example of how to sample music into the foundations of a creation, rather than the crowbarred approach many have attempted with this particular piece of music.
Moby, “Go (Woodtik remix)” (1991)
Once upon a time, Moby was in the habit of releasing some pretty interesting dance records. “Mobility,” his first ever 12” released in 1990, is one such example, but the release didn’t do much until Moby watched “Twin Peaks.” He remixed the single’s B-side, “Go,” to include a sample of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” and a few other tweaks—and it took off. “Go” went Top 10 on the UK singles chart, sold millions, and set up a stylistic sample-based template that would go on to define much of Moby’s career.
DJ Shadow, “What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1 - Blue Sky Revisit) / Transmission 3” (1996)
A pinnacle album in the world of sampling, DJ Shadow’s debut Endtroducing… utilizes everyone from Metallica to Kraftwerk to Loudon Wainwright III. But the record chooses to end on a “Twin Peaks” moment, sampling dialogue from the Giant (i.e. Agent Cooper’s subconscious) as the ominous figure repeats, “It is happening again.”
Biosphere, “Hyperborea” (1997)
On his landmark ambient album Substrata, the musician born Geir Jenssen samples “Twin Peaks” more than once, most effectively on“Hyperborea.” The track transplants the scene known as “the Major’s Vision,” in which Major Briggs shares a recent vision he had with his perpetually disinterested son Bobby, after the two run into each other at the diner. The monologue is somewhat overlooked in the world of “Twin Peaks” quotables, but it remains one of the show’s most emotive scenes, a moment where the script and the performance meet in deceptively powerful harmony. The sample is buried underneath the drone, adding a sense of ambiguity to sounds already heavy with a sense of disconnection.
Stars of the Lid, “Gasfarming” (2001)
Perhaps the most subtle of all the “Twin Peaks” reference surfaces in this piece, taken from the ambient group’s exquisite The Tired Sounds Of album. The sample is so discreet, it’s easy to miss: 20 seconds in, a phone rings before being answered with the greeting, “Big Ed’s gas farm,” as in the Twin Peaks gas station run by Ed Hurley. It quickly evaporates into the heavy mist of whirring drones, the enveloping nature of which could be seen as emblematic of the “Twin Peaks” universe.
El-P, “Tasmanian Pain Coaster” (2007)
Taken from the Run the Jewels rapper/producer’s second album I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, this track features not only the Mars Volta and guitar wizard Matt Sweeney, but also dialogue from Fire Walk With Me, the prequel film to “Twin Peaks.” Laura Palmer’s echoing dialogue acts as a portal into a new world, which El-P and co. launch into following the tense intro.
Mount Eerie, “Between Two Mysteries” (2009)
The influence of “Twin Peaks” on Phil Elverum has been one that stretches way beyond this 2009 inclusion. The Glow Pt 2, the 2001 favorite from his former band the Microphones, is littered with recurring subtle blasts of foghorn sounds throughout. This came about after Elverum noticed that whenever a scene was set in the home of Catherine Martell and Josie Packard on the show, a very low foghorn would hum delicately in the background. Years later, he would sample “Laura Palmer’s Theme” for this song, which also links itself to the show’s sense of place: “The town rests in the valley beneath Twin Peaks, buried in space,” Elverum sings.
Nicolas Jaar, “Radio 1 Essential Mix” (2012)
For BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix, Nicolas Jaar put together an unfathomably eclectic set that eventually won him mix of the year across the long-running series. Aside from working in Jay Z, Aphex Twin, Charles Mingus, Bill Callahan, Ricardo Villalobos, and countless others, Jaar’s opening “Twin Peaks” selection is vortex-like in its pull. He samples a video interview where Badalamenti explains how he came up with “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” sitting side by side at the keyboard with Lynch. As the composer plays the theme, he repeats Lynch’s real-time commands, even mimicking the director’s euphoric explosion when the song comes to its bittersweet crescendo.
Zomby, “Reflection” (2016)
Mysterious UK producer Zomby opens his 2016 album Ultra with an interesting trifecta: skittering squelches, echoing gunshots, and a voice that should sound familiar to “Twin Peaks” viewers. The ominous center of this intensifying soundscape is the bizarre-even-for-this-show character Log Lady, warning in one of her many monologues that “clues are everywhere, they are all around us.”
Xiu Xiu, “Audrey’s Dance” (2016)
Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart has frequently spoken of the series’ influence on his music. In 2016, his group covered the entirety of the Twin Peaks Soundtrack, wherein Xiu Xiu’s usual sonic attack was mellowed considerably by the rich ambience of Badalamenti’s original. “Audrey’s Dance” exemplifies an approach displayed on much of the record, one that feels both experimental yet deeply attuned to what made “Twin Peaks” such a fascinating listen—and watch, of course—in the first place.
Bonus: Chrysta Bell, “Sycamore Trees” (2012)
Not exactly a sample, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t point “Twin Peaks” fans to this cover of “Sycamore Trees,” originally penned by Lynch and Badalamenti. Jimmy Scott’s performance in the series is pretty much unmatchable—though everyone from Jim James to Acid Mothers Temple has tried—but the most Lynchian take has to be this live version from longtime Lynch collaborator Chrysta Bell. Her performance comes very close to mirroring that of the infamous crying scene from Mulholland Drive in its close-up intensity.
Follow all of Pitchfork’s “Twin Peaks” coverage here.