Disco Elysium (soundtrack)
| Disco Elysium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | December 23, 2019 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 102:21 | |||
| Label | Golden Chariot | |||
| Sea Power chronology | ||||
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Disco Elysium is a soundtrack album created by Sea Power for the 2019 game of the same name. It was released on December 23, 2019, and would be later reissued with two bonus tracks to accompany The Final Cut expansion for the game Disco Elysium. Production of the soundtrack began after Sea Power was approached by Disco Elysium's lead designer Robert Kurvitz, the two frequently collaborating throughout the soundtrack's creation. The soundtrack was positively received, and won a BAFTA for best Video Game Music.
Production
[edit]During the development of Disco Elysium, lead designer Robert Kurvitz specifically sought out Sea Power to compose the game's soundtrack.[1] Kurvitz approached the band while they were on tour, describing the game and talking about Sea Power's previous work.[2] While Kurvitz was a superfan of Sea Power, having already inserted several references to the band into Disco Elysium, frontman Jan Scott Wilkinson was skeptical of composing for a video game.[3] Sea Power had previously worked on soundtracks, such as one for Man of Aran, but they had never worked on a video game soundtrack.[1] Their band manager endorsed Kurvitz, and the band agreed to create a soundtrack.[3]
Kurvitz and Sea Power would frequently collaborate during the album's development, with Sea Power being given example songs from their discography, unfinished sections of Disco Elysium, and various scene ideas to base the soundtrack on.[1] Several songs from Sea Power's catalogue were directly adapted to the soundtrack, such as Up Against It from EP2 becoming the song Whirling In Rags.[1] Sea Power was also inspired by works such as Roadside Picnic, Angelo Badalamenti's work for David Lynch and the soundtrack of Dear Esther.[2]
Sea Power relied on intuition to create more ambient, free-form music that would set the right mood. Violinist and vocalist Abi Fry said that while making the soundtrack, "the headspace was easy to find".[2]
The soundtrack would be released on Steam after the game, on December 23, 2019.[4] It would later be released on Bandcamp in 2021, accompanied by a physical CD release. Two triple vinyl record editions were released in June 2021 to accompany Disco Elysium's release on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.[5]
Reception
[edit]Writing for Game Rant, games writer Jeffrey Yu praised the soundtrack for its sonic diversity and its ability to seamlessly pair with the game, despite having been created by a band rather than a composer or sound designer.[6]
Sea Power grew in popularity after the release of Disco Elysium, as fans of the game began listening to the band and attending shows.[3]
Awards
[edit]| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | SXSW Gaming Awards | Excellence in Musical Score | Nominated | [7] |
| 16th British Academy Games Awards | Music | Won | [8] |
Track listing
[edit]| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Instrument of Surrender" | 05:26 |
| 2. | "Whirling-In-Rags, 8am" | 04:34 |
| 3. | "Detective Arriving on the Scene" | 05:10 |
| 4. | "Tiger King" | 05:07 |
| 5. | "Your Body Betrays Your Degeneracy" | 02:27 |
| 6. | "Precinct 41 Major Crime Unit" | 03:36 |
| 7. | "The Insulindian Miracle" | 02:24 |
| 8. | "Polyhedrons" | 03:09 |
| 9. | "Live With Me" | 02:40 |
| 10. | "The Field Autopsy" | 02:31 |
| 11. | "Miss Oranje Disco Dancer" | 03:16 |
| 12. | "Rue de Saint-Gislaine" | 02:47 |
| 13. | "The Doomed Commercial Area" | 03:05 |
| 14. | "The Cryptozoologists" | 02:18 |
| 15. | "Whirling-In-Rags, 8PM" | 04:41 |
| 16. | "Disco Elysium, pt 1" | 04:52 |
| 17. | "Disco Elysium, pt 2" | 04:49 |
| 18. | "Ecstatic Vibrations, Totally Transcendent" | 03:36 |
| 19. | "Saint-Brune 1147" | 03:04 |
| 20. | "Martinaise, Terminal B" | 04:11 |
| 21. | "We Are Not Checkmated" | 03:43 |
| 22. | "Hope in Work and Joy in Leisure" | 02:43 |
| 23. | "Burn, Baby, Burn" | 03:11 |
| 24. | "Whirling-In-Rags, 12 PM" | 03:45 |
| 25. | "La Revacholiere" | 04:11 |
| 26. | "Krenel, Downwell, Somatosensor" | 03:49 |
| 27. | "Off We Go Into The Wild Pale Yonder" | 03:58 |
| 28. | "ZAUM" | 03:18 |
| Total length: | 102:21 | |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Reynolds, Ollie (12 October 2022). "Meet Sea Power, The Talent Behind Disco Elysium's Exquisite Music". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ a b c Lynch, Gerald (31 March 2021). "Disco Elysium: The Final Cut – How cult heroes British Sea Power wrote its award-winning score". TechRadar. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Peppiatt, Dom (14 March 2025). "'The odd drunken detective has been sighted at gigs': how Sea Power won legions of gamer fans". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ @discoelysium (December 23, 2019). "The long-awaited Disco Elysium original soundtrack is here! And it's accompanied by an art booklet. Three albums worth of music by the magnificent British Sea Power @BSPOfficial and five years of art by ZA/UM - now available. Happy Holidays!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Eede, Christian (30 March 2021). "British Sea Power Release 'Disco Elysium' Game Soundtrack". The Quietus. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ Yu, Jeffrey (8 April 2021). "Disco Elysium's Soundtrack Sets a New Bar For How Video Game Music Should Tie Into Games". Game Rant. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ "Announcing the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners". SXSW. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ "2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". BAFTA. 3 March 2020. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.