Some of us on staff – the ones with correct opinions – love Ramin Djawadi’s arrangements for Westworld. Others – hereafter known as the wrong ones – do not. Here’s what I know: There are only five tracks on the just-released Westworld soundtrack, and I will be listening to them on repeat for days.
Gif made from the opening credits of Westworld, HBO
You can buy the Westworld theme and four covers on iTunes for $8.99 or listen to the album streaming on Spotify. The four other tracks are Djawadi’s versions of “Black Hole Sun”, “Paint It, Black” by the Rolling Stones, “No Surprises” by Radiohead and “A Forest” by The Cure.
I maintain that the “Paint It, Black” scene in Westworld is the exact moment the show snapped into place. It used the song, the Western setting, the old timey instrumental and visual cues right out of a video game and synthesised it all. That’s when the show went from pretty with some interesting questions to something that was fun to watch. And also, because it’s Westworld, it then made me feel bad for wanting more awesome action and less thinky thoughts.
Below is the music. It should make anything you do in the next 15 minutes much more epic.
[via Stereogum]