Good news for Team Jacob lovers and Team Edward fans alike: Just for today, the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack is available for streaming for all to hear and swoon over with each passing note. Whether you’re pro-vamp or merely pro-indie rock, it’s sure to win you over. After the jump, we give a full rundown of each and every tune streaming over on the pre-order site for the soundtrack, which will be available for purchase June 8th. Oh, and for the record, we’re totally Team Jacob.
Metric – “Eclipse (All Yours)” Leading things off, Emily Haines and company set the tempo for the entire record with a passionate cry for the one your heart truly belongs to. Haines doesn’t tip her hand (or the movie’s) by picking out Edward or Jacob, but she does a great job of capturing the aching heart that accompanies a love so strong.
Muse – “Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)” In its starring role as lead single off the soundtrack, “Neutron Star Collision” is a scientific analogy meant to fully capture the power of the love that will be on display in the film— and it fits Edward and Bella’s relationship so fittingly. Get your lighters ready for when Muse play it in an arena near you. ytaudio(MTvgnYGu9bg)
The Bravery – “Ours” The first mistake we see on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack is the placement of The Bravery right after Muse. It flows nicely, but only because the bands sound so damn similar to each other. Honestly, it took us a few listens to figure out where Muse ended and The Bravery began.
Florence & the Machine – “Heavy in Your Arms” This is an absolutely perfect fit for the soundtrack. It’s spooky and emotive at the same time, just like the movies. Florence & the Machine may have had a hit with “Kiss with a Fist,” but this is the tune that will launch them to super stardom.
Sia – “My Love” Following the huge sound of the opening few tracks, Sia slows things down for a few minutes with a mid-tempo ballad meant to portray the passion Bella oozes throughout Eclipse. It captures every bit of the heartbreaking nature of the Twilight world, a fragile moment that provides a wonderful break from the intensity that characterizes most of the album.
Fanfarlo – “Atlas” As one of the least well-known acts invited to the world of Twilight, Fanfarlo has the most to gain from their efforts on the soundtrack. This tune isn’t necessarily their best (check out their awesome debut Reservoir for that), but it still manages to lure people into their whimsical pop world. Isn’t that what appearing on one of these is meant to do?
The Black Keys – “Chop and Change” The folks who put together this album are really trying to show off a lot of different sounds. While they could have just loaded it with gothic emo odes and ballads, their genre mixing has yielded some solid flourishes. The Black Keys bring their blues-tinged rock to the soundtrack, and make for a rough-and-tumble moment that could symbolize a brush with danger for one of our powerful male leads.
The Dead Weather – “Rolling in on a Burning Tire” As with any good summer blockbuster soundtrack, there are a few duds: The Dead Weather throw up one of the biggest clunkers on the entire playlist with a track that robs the band of their aggression. Definitely one of their weakest tunes, and one of the worst cuts on this album.
Beck & Bat for Lashes – “Let’s Get Lost” This little duet had probably the greatest potential of any on the Twilight soundtrack to make something amazing happen, but unfortunately it exhausts any momentum it had by the three minute mark. The song slowly waltzes us from one dark, moody lyric to the next, and neither Beck nor Natasha Khan (a.k.a. Bat for Lashes) hits anywhere near their personal highs on this tune. Add it to the steadily growing dud list.
Vampire Weekend – “Jonathan Low” Hopefully whoever picked the tunes for this soundtrack has learned that just because you can play word association games with an act and your movie does not mean they are a good fit for the sound you’re going for. Vampire Weekend, known for their sunny, African pop-inflected jams, are not good at portraying darkness. They fall flat on their faces trying to pull it off here. Our patience with this soundtrack is suddenly on thin ice.
UNKLE (feat. The Black Angels) – “With You in My Head” This tune actually makes sense! Finally, after a series of out-of-place tracks from bands that were clearly out of their element, we get a song that fits both the artist and the soundtrack. UNKLE have always done best with dark trance tunes, and this collaboration with The Black Angels fits right in with the motif of the movie. Nice fit, decent enough tune… we’re still fading, but all is not yet lost.
Eastern Conference Champions – “A Million Miles An Hour” Maybe it’s just the false advertising of the song title, but this track does not affect us at all. The sound is just too generic. This song will be skipped by thousands of teenagers in the next few weeks.
Band of Horses – “Life on Earth” Listening to “Life on Earth,” we get the sneaking suspicion that this will play behind some corny montage that probably could have been left out of the movie entirely. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Cee Lo Green – “What Part of Forever” For whatever reason, we don’t see this tune working in the movie, but we still really like it as a little jam to get down to (or run credits to). Cee Lo is all about fun, and let’s face it:Twilight isn’t all about the fun. It is as serious as cancer. Unless you’re reading Aziz Ansari’s tweets while watching.
Howard’s Shore – “Jacob’s Theme” Amid nothing but pop songs meant to represent parts of a movie, we are given a taste of instrumental score meant to embody Jacob. Now, we don’t get “werewolf” from these few minutes of dream-inducing notes, but we’re sure after seeing the film we’ll understand. Either that, or we’ll just forget about this little instrumental excursion and continue on our pop way.