‘Listen to the Sounds’: Sound and Storytelling in Twin Peaks: The Return

Marshall, Kingsley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2518-7305 and Loydell, Rupert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2730-8489 (2019) ‘Listen to the Sounds’: Sound and Storytelling in Twin Peaks: The Return. In: Critical Essays on Twin Peaks: The Return. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 269-280. ISBN 978-3-03-004797-9

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Abstract / Summary

'Sound is at least 50% of the picture […] In post, most of the sound is built and it’s usually a process of experimenting. Action and reaction. Trying this or that. I think that in every instance of every sound, there are 760 million sounds that are wrong and there are 34 sounds that are correct. And of the 34, 27 of them are very similar. But 7 of the 34 are completely weird… but they still work' (Lynch, in Bentley: 2017)

The opening line in the first episode of Twin Peaks: The Return, spoken by Carel Struycken’s character, asks FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper to 'Listen to the sounds'. Throughout the series, writer, director and sound designer David Lynch deploys a complex combination of sound and visuals in order to depict mysticism, the impossible and bring to life the birth and spread of evil in the Twin Peaks universes

Paying attention specifically to the predominantly dialogue-free episode eight of the series, we wil explore how Lynch makes use of intricate sound design, score, existing source music and music performed within the diegesis in order to complete his intricate visuals. We explore how the episode, and series as a whole, makes intertextual connections to conventional and experimental film form in addition to extending upon established Lynchian worlds, and how manipulation of sounds within the series lends an otherworldly quality to the image.

Kingsley Marshall and Rupert Loydell, a musician/writer and writer/painter respectively, will use the words of David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti and sound supervisors Dean Hurley and Ron Eng together with critiques of Lynch’s work, to better understand the complex, alienating world of Twin Peaks, and the significance of sound and music within the construction of place, space, character and narrative in the most recent series.

Item Type:	Book Section
ISBN:	978-3-03-004797-9
Subjects:	Film & Television > Film Film & Television > Television Performing Arts > Music & Sound
Courses by Department:	The School of Film & Television The School of Communication
Depositing User:	Kingsley Marshall
Date Deposited:	21 Nov 2019 11:20
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 15:58
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/2875

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