The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
Summit Ent/Chop Shop/Atlantic Records, Audio CD: Rs. 395
I was reminded of an image passed around on Twitter while listening to this OST. In classic meme format, the image carried the ‘Team Edward’ slogan – below a picture of writer-academic Edward Said. The surprise factor – in expecting a vampire, and meeting a post-colonial intellectual instead – was enough to make the image go faintly viral. But it’s an example that perhaps aptly embodies the all-or-nothing attitude one typically has to the Twilight franchise. If you happened to be in the right moment for the books and movies, you were likely part of the frenetic online groups discussing Bella and Jacob and Edward’s every move. If you didn’t happen to be there, you just couldn’t get the big deal.
To someone who’s not a Twilight fan, the OST of Breaking Dawn Part 2 makes a surprisingly decent listen. Despite the undeniably vampire-like imagery on the cover – their faintly red eyes and their all-too-red lips, not to mention the unreal paleness – the music on the album isn’t, thankfully, chock-full of references to vampires and blood-thirst. The closest it gets is when on ‘A Thousand Years’ Christina Perri promises to love for that stated amount of time. Incidentally, this is reprised from the OST of Breaking Dawn, Part 1.
The album has a predominantly electric-pop sound: on the whole, the 14 tracks aren’t going to suggest the epic showdown that happens in the movie. It’s unexpectedly restrained, moody, and even melancholic music. When Pop ETC ask you to ‘Speak Up’ on track seven, it’s not an angry cry so much as a gentle exhortation. Iko’s ‘Heart Of Stone’ is all soulful vocals and single piano notes.
The clanging ‘The Forgotten’ from Green Day, arguably the biggest draw on the album, is best forgotten. And, admittedly, the duets do ruin the atmosphere a little. Husband-and-wife couple Paul McDonald and Nikki Reed (who plays Rosalie Hale in the film) sound sickly-sweet on ‘All I’ve Ever Needed’.
Soundtracks can be great ways to discover new artists; for that alone, the album succeeds as a whole. And for people who don’t identify with the lingo of team Edward or team Bella, the soundtrack might just be the most bearable part of the franchise. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go look for more from Canadian singer Feist, whose ‘Fire In The Water’ is a real find.
