‘I Saw The TV Glow’: the ultimate A24 soundtrack
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(Credits: Far Out / A24)
Over the last decade or so, A24 has established itself as far more than a production and distribution company. Through its glossy social media presence, innovative merchandise, and truly unmatched understanding of how to market to modern audiences, A24 has won over a cult audience of tote-bag-slinging, MUBI-subscription-holding cinemagoers who are immediately hooked each time its logo appears in a trailer.
As a company whose activities span both production and distribution, A24’s attachment to a project doesn’t necessarily imply a specific cinematic direction. Nor does it imply a certain level of quality – their releases spans Academy Award-winning titles like Moonlight and Ex Machina, as well as undisputed flops such as Slice and Hot Summer Nights. Still, the brand name has come to signify a specific type of stylised indie filmmaking, acting almost as a contemporary curator in the industry.
Music is just one element of that stylistic approach to indie movie-making, and A24 projects have featured some of the most well-curated soundtracks of the last decade. Bodies Bodies Bodies was preceded by a swerving Charli XCX track of the same name. The multiverse-exploring blockbuster Everything Everywhere All At Once partnered up post-punk pioneer David Byrne with contemporary indie icon Mitski.
Those in the music departments for pictures created and promoted by A24 clearly have their fingers firmly on the pulse, and nowhere is this more evident than in Jane Shoenbrun’s third directorial offering, I Saw The TV Glow. After arriving in cinemas in the United States earlier in the year, the film finally arrived on the big screen in the United Kingdom in July.
I Saw The TV Glow is a shimmeringly intense depiction of the trans experience. The film follows Owen, played by Justice Smith, who develops an unusual attachment to a fictional television show called The Pink Opaque. Owen’s love for the show is shared with school friend Maddy, who gives the protagonist recordings of the show when his parents refuse to let him watch it, telling him that it’s “for girls”.
Amidst glowing cinematography and fourth wall breaks, the pair’s obsession with the show turns into something stranger, as Maddy declares it their destiny to live in The Pink Opaque rather than in the real world. Owen can’t accept this fact, shrugging off Maddy’s insistence to join her in their new life. The imagery is often surreal, but the story is undeniably human. It’s a cautionary tale about a life half-lived experience that may be completely missed out on if you bury a part of yourself deep down.
There are certain stylistic elements of the film that let it down—the fourth wall breaks tend to pull you out of the story, for example—but, for the most part, I Saw The TV Glow is masterfully produced. It commits entirely to its luminescent title, with almost every shot glowing in some way and scrawls notes over the screen in a messy pink font. It’s quirky but considered, something which is reflected in its accompanying soundtrack.
I Saw The TV Glow just might have the most A24 soundtrack of any A24 film. From the second the end of the trailer and a young Owen comes into view, cinema-goers are blessed with the altered vocals of Singaporean glitch enthusiast Yeule, who covers Broken Social Scene’s ‘Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl’. It’s just as surreal and strange as I Saw The TV Glow, without compromising on the warm coming-of-age feeling that softens its intensity.
From there, the soundtrack seems like a roll call for every A24 fan’s favourite indie artists of the moment. Florist contributes an expectedly tender track called ‘Riding Around In The Dark’, which charts the weight of emotion experienced by Owen in lines like, “It’s the end of the world and we’re driving around.” L’Rain, Drab Majesty, Jay Som, each indie icon contributes a track just as tender yet weighty as the story it accompanies.
Even Caroline Polachek appears on the soundtrack, softening the stranger influences that bled into Desire, I Want To Turn Into You and returning to something more akin to bedroom pop with a drum machine. Suddenly, the song plunges into dense chords and Polachek’s familiar wavering vocals. In the film, the track accompanies Owen strolling through school corridors, a scene that wouldn’t have half of the impact without Polachek’s accompaniment.
The film is peppered with nods to fans of the artists on the soundtrack, too, with Phoebe Bridgers unexpectedly appearing on-stage at the venue where Owen and Maddy take refuge to talk about The Pink Opaque. King Woman follows their soft strums with something much darker, a performance made up of screams that seemed as if they were shaking the speakers in the cinema. Each song seems to add to the internal monologue of our main character, to the battle he experiences each and every day.
Spanning some of the biggest artists in the indie realm right now, the soundtrack for I Saw The TV Glow seems perfectly tailored to A24 audiences. Indie God Alex G even provides the accompanying score. But it’s also perfectly tailored to the film it accompanies, a true masterclass in both style and substance.
It intersperses covers of old tunes by contemporary women and non-binary artists with original tracks that consider the weight and tone of Shoenbrun’s story.
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