The Yellowjackets score is ninety seconds into the series.
The camera pans up the dead girl's body with a musical cue. This gliding note is as unnerving as the sight accompanying it. The closed caption says it'serie music and it's a warning like the animal calls echoed through the trees.
The background music was composed by Theodore Shapiro. Two years after the show received a series order and filmed more episodes, he was unable to continue. Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker composed the music for Republic of Sarah. They had been itching to do something dark and weird.
The score was beautiful, but Wedren said we need to fuck it up.
Waronker and Wedren kept the hair-raising vocal inspiration that was performed in the pilot by Shapiro's collaborators.
We ignored the pilot template and started creating this much more beastly thrill ride that was sort of fusion of very modern horror and Teddy had set up in the pilot. Wedren said that they turned it into a grand freaky collaboration, with Anna singing and I singing.
The result is a score that fucks up the template but expands and feeds on it.
"Our plane crashed"
The crash scene in episode 2 of "Yellowjackets" serves as the show's "sonic palette."Credit: Showtime
Waronker and Wedren made a copy of the plane crash scene in order to score the episodes. Listen to the music behind the sounds of screams, flames, and mechanical groans when you watch it again. A new take on that glissing vocal, less of a howl and more of a moan, with notes of dread, optimism, and morbid curiosity has been heard. The percussion pops in and out, dissonant at best. The voice starts to rattle when the two of them leave the plane.
Wedren said it was important to set up the sonic palette for the show. It is fun to just go off, but you need to always feel like you are in the show.
Waronker and Wedren were encouraged by the Yellowjackets producers to push boundaries, bringing in aspects of their musical training that weren't always fit for a background score. The notes that never hit the right pitch and unnerved the listener were created by them. Along with Shaw's singing, the score is full of breathing, rasping, breathing as percussion, breathing played backward, manipulated, transformed and screams. Waronker let out what sounded like a chopped-up cackle after Wedren tried to imitate it.
Waronker said that the process was not that challenging.
Wedren said that each of them gives the other one courage. The screechy sound should be made.
The second episode was called "Saints", in which Shauna's attempted abortion is intercut with Lottie's. There is a continuous cue starting with those weird strings. It sounds like every instrument is playing a different song. As we cut to Tai and Shauna in the woods, the breaths came in as we panicked. The pivotal scored scenes are the result of constant conscious decision-making on a show with a distinct soundtrack.
Wedren said that there is usually a place for everything by the time they are done. What is needed in this scene? What is the temp music doing that it needs to be doing? What beats do we want to hit? Is it a song or a score?
The Doomcoming dance
The climax of "Doomcoming" and arguably of "Yellowjackets" Season 1.Credit: Showtime
The episodes presented challenges on a short time frame. The climax of episode 9 is arguably the climax of Season 1 itself. Wedren took a stab at the 15-minute musical cue while Waronker was supposed to maintain objectivity. After he took the first pass, she came in to reconstruct the whole thing and reignite the creative cycle for them both.
Wedren said that when you have a piece that long, it is a Jenga puzzle. The whole thing might fall down.
The cue is a mix of signature sounds from the Yellowjackets score and key signatures. The full background album is not available to stream yet. After listening to the cue on its own, Wedren isn't sure if it should be.
Waronker said they needed to get like their rock-and-roll Carrie vibes in there. They are chasing someone to murder them.
That is also the moment when they are finally all free, Wedren said.
That moment is the only time we hear the show's theme song. Wedren and Waronker were going to pull from their library of other title songs and scrap pieces for the end credits, but the showrunners made the final call.
Wedren laughed and said that they were right again.
A musical feast
Lottie's cult deserves an original song!Credit: Showtime
Wedren said he was going to put this out there.
They proved their chops on the theme song and showed the immense range of voice work with the show's vocals.
There is a lot of fun and exploration to be had in that in-between land, he said.
In-between land is where the Yellowjackets live and where Waronker and Wedren forged their score with their own new elements. It is the same score even when it is disparate. There is something holding it together, almost a song structure. There are screams, breaths, and an actual synthesizer that sounds like a plane failing to take flight.
Waronker said that they know how to lock emotion to music.
Wedren said that it was important for both of them to make sure that undergirding all of the craziness was something emotional.
Yellowjackets is now available to watch on TV and online.
