Netflix To Release Two Soundtracks Along With The Series Premiere of "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance"

This Friday, August 30th, we will all be returning to the fantastical world of Thra from Jim Henson via the ten episode Netflix original series "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance". This series is a prequel to the groundbreaking 1982 fan favourite "The Dark Crystal" and it takes place many years before the events of the original film.

Just announced via Netflix, we have learned that the launch of this series will be accompanied by two soundtrack volumes that will be available digitally on the day of the release and will be released later on CD and vinyl. Volume one of the soundtrack will feature original music by composer Daniel Pemberton and Volume two will have tracks by Pemberton and Samuel Sim.

Director and executive producer for "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance", Louis Leterrier talked about what he was looking for as far as music for the film. “I approached the music the same way I approached the filming and the puppetry,” explains Leterrier. “I wanted somebody to come on this journey that would be willing to take big risks. I wanted something that was almost tribal. I wanted to hear the strings being plucked and the skin wrapped over the drum. At the same time, I wanted somebody who could write beautiful melodies, understood music, and was a lover of beautiful music. I wanted someone who would approach it in a very organic way and who would tell the story through the score. My search led me to Daniel.”

Pemberton also shared his approach on creating the music for this series. “I wanted the music to be as magical as Thra itself – organic, imperfect, strange, mystical, otherworldly and wonderful. I wanted to create new sounds that felt like they came from the world itself, as well as using thematic large scale orchestral elements to bring an emotion to the journey of the characters. I wanted music and sounds that would fill you with wonder, but also terrify you. It was very important to me that all the sounds felt like they could 

only be from Thra itself – no grand pianos or overtly electronic elements. Every sound had to feel organic and visceral, from the dark detuned glissando cello sounds made for the Skeksis, to the upbeat flutes from the Podling’s bar. We created noises out of wine glasses, metal chains, wooden drums, metal sculptures on a snow covered mountain and old creaky medieval instruments to try and make a sonic world as unique as the visual one.”

This series stars the voices of Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel, Mark Hamill, Helena Bonham-Carter, Alicia Vikander and Caitriona Balfe. It was shot in the U.K. and of course stars a group of fantastical state of the art creatures that are brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and designed by Brian Froud, who was also the original film’s conceptual designer.