Dixon and Stein were asked by the Duffer Brothers to score Stranger Things, after the Duffers initially used the S U R V I V E song ‘Dirge’ to soundtrack their pitch trailer. According to The Guardian “The Austin analogue aficionados were electronic music cult-concerns, making unfashionable retro synthscapes with their band Survive, before the series’ creators, the Duffer brothers, came calling.” By their own admission, Dixon and Stein grew up listening to Aphex Twin, Autechra and Bogdan Raczynski. They also cite influences of scores for Ex Machina and Annihilation, both composed by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow of Portishead, John Carpenter’s soundtrack for Big Trouble in Little China and Tangerine Dream’s score for The Keep.
Pitchfork states that “From the moment the glowing title card of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” drifts across the screen, the undulating synth arpeggios make it clear that music will play a key role.” AllMusic refers to the duo’s music as an “unabashed love letter to the work of John Carpenter, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Tangerine Dream… their homages are always in service of Stranger Things’ story and mood. Frequently, they reach the iconic heights of their influences: The show’s Emmy-winning theme, with its thudding percussion, arpeggiated synth chords, bright bursts of synthesized bass, and sinister choral effects, encapsulates the feel of ’80s sci-fi and horror perfectly.”
