ABSTRACT

In this edited volume, contributors explore an essential element of the influential television series Twin Peaks: the role of music and sound. From its debut in 1990 to its return to television in 2017, Twin Peaks has amassed a cult following, and inspired myriad scholarly studies. This collection considers how the music and sound design not only create the ambience of this ground-breaking series, but function in the narrative, encouraging multiple interpretations. With chapters that consider how music shapes the relationship of audiences and fans to the story, the importance of sound design, and the symbolism embedded in the score, this book provides a range of perspectives for scholars of music and film studies, while giving fans new insight into an iconic television show.

chapter |11 pages

Introduction: Twin Peaks

Where There’s Always Music (and Sound) in the Air

part I|91 pages

Performance and Audience

chapter 1|19 pages

Pitching the Peaks

Media Advertising for the Original Series

chapter 2|14 pages

Playing with Sound

Fan Engagement with the Soundtrack of Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

chapter 3|15 pages

Where Music is Always in the Air

Voice and Nostalgia in Twin Peaks

chapter 4|14 pages

The Bang Bang Bar, Silencio, and Lynch’s Audiences

Meaning and Musical Performance in Twin Peaks: The Return

chapter 5|14 pages

The Music is Not What It Seems

An Examination of Labor and Capital in the Music of Twin Peaks: The Return Series

chapter 6|13 pages

‘Singer’; ‘Girl Singer’; ‘Roadhouse Singer’; ‘Herself’

Julee Cruise in the World of Twin Peaks

part II|58 pages

Sound Design

chapter 7|14 pages

“The Thread Will Be Torn”

Sound Design as a Measure of Self-Knowledge in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

chapter 9|14 pages

“What is Gordon Cole Listening To?”

The Rhetoric of Subjective Sound in Twin Peaks: The Return

chapter 10|14 pages

David Lynch’s Metaphysical Sound Design

The Acousmatic Personification of Judy

part III|71 pages

Musical Meanings

chapter 11|16 pages

Americana on the Internet

Listening to Twin Peaks

chapter 12|22 pages

“Like Some Haunting Melody”

The Laura Palmer Theme in the World of Twin Peaks

chapter 13|15 pages

Listen to the Skins

Drumming and Time in Twin Peaks

chapter 14|16 pages

Chaos and Creation

Music, Redemption, and the Atomic Bomb in Twin Peaks: The Return