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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 Official Soundtrack

The press release promised “an intriguing and irresistible line-up of artists” including Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding, and Feist. But the soundtrack to Twilight—Breaking Dawn Part 2 could leave even the ‘Twihards’ disappointed.

The mood of the album is—for the most part—mellow: the majority of tracks are the sort of slow-building, emotion-charged ballads one may well expect from the soundtrack to a tween-age epic of drama and romance. While some tracks rely too heavily on this emotional element and fall formulaically flat (Green Day’s contribution certainly fits this bill), others communicate the beauteous and haunting—Iko’s “Heart of Stone” being the standout.

Unfortunately, the record lacks any of the consistency necessary to establish an overall tone. More upbeat tracks, such as St. Vincent’s richly-layered “The Antidote,” come across not as natural crescendos in the album’s progression, but as disruptions which make the surrounding songs seem frustratingly slow. Thus, the very tracks which keep monotony at bay detract from the whole.

While tracks may, and do, have individual merit, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. An emotional connection to the scenes that bore these tracks may make this album an evocative work through which fans may relive favourite moments from the film. But in itself, it does little to establish mood or assert itself as a cohesive piece. The result, while listenable, stagnates and ultimately disappoints. Twilight teases in all the right places, but in the end, leaves the tantalising promise of its list of contributors unresolved.

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