Thom Yorke Creates His Own Horror Story In His "Suspiria" Soundtrack

Thom Yorke is a man of many talents. Whether it be digging into his purest emotions with Radiohead, experimenting on his solo albums, or making haunting soundtracks, Yorke always makes whatever he tackles his own. And that’s no different on his latest score for the movie Suspiria. Thom Yorke shares his own horror story in his Suspiria soundtrack, creating the perfect haunting atmosphere for the movie while creating a perfectly eerie standalone album.

Suspiria is a horror movie about a woman who moves to Berlin to audition as a dancer, landing the lead role. After replacing another woman for the lead, that woman accuses the directors of witchcraft. From there, the paranormal starts to ensue. Yorke’s soundtrack mirrors these idea beautifully. Several songs have a ballet-type vibe to them, including lead single ‘Suspirium.’ The gentle piano helps create the perfect waltz, Yorke’s voice and the various sounds that phase in and out creating a songs that’s equal parts hypnotizing and creepy. ‘Unmade‘ has a similarly beautiful atmosphere, its faraway sound helping create it. Yorke’s vocals are sparse throughout the album but they certainly add a lot to the record, like in ‘Has Ended,’ the song’s eerie warmth morphing into haunting beauty with the vocals at the end.

A majority of the record is instrumental (as expected), leaving Yorke to create atmosphere and tell the story with the music alone. As you would expect, he succeeds with flying colors. From the long, horrifying sound of ‘A Choir Of One‘ to the quick spiral of ‘An Audition‘ and the uneasy opener track ‘A Storm That Took Everything,’ Yorke manages to capture the perfectly haunting vibe with every track. Even the more beautiful tracks like ‘Suspirium Finale‘ are bookended by scary sounds. Some tracks are more slow and winding like ‘The Hooks,’ its human sounds creating a disturbing atmosphere, while others are more quickly horrifying like ‘Synthesizer Speaks.’ ‘Sabbath Incantation‘ and ‘Open Again‘ create their own scary atmospheres, while the disorienting nature of ‘Olga’s Destruction (Volk Tape)‘ carves its own sound. ‘Volk‘ is a more subtly haunting song, whereas closing track ‘The Epilogue‘ takes things out on a tactically empty note.

Thome Yorke creates his own horror story in his Suspiria soundtrack, creating the perfect backing for a horrifying film while creating his own story all the same. Yorke is a master of all crafts in music, and every soundtrack he touches only makes the film and his own discography that much better.

Favorite Tracks: Suspirium, Unmade, Sabbath Incantation, Open Again

Least Favorite Track: Synthesizer Speaks

Rating: 78 / 100

Stream or buy Suspirium on Apple Music, and follow our 2018 Playlist on Spotify: