The Life is Strange Soundtrack Fan to Indie Folk Enjoyer Pipeline
by Amelia Zollner
At the beginning of the 2015 game Life is Strange, there’s a moment where Max Caulfield, the game’s protagonist, steps to the side of her school’s hallway and puts her headphones in to observe the world around her. As the light percussion line of the indie folk classic “To All of You” by Syd Matters kicks in, the title displays and the player is given full control of Max for the first time. In 2015, this was the most magical moment of any game I had played and cued me into the fact that I am unfortunately doomed to be an indie folk enjoyer (and a game soundtrack appreciator) for the rest of my life.
Life is Strange takes place in Arcadia Bay, a fictional, quirky little town in Oregon, and follows Max through a series of life-altering choices as she gains the power to turn back time, and (more importantly), the power to unknowingly curate the most mind-blowing playlist my 13 year-old self had ever heard. Syd Matters, alt-J, Sparklehorse, Bright Eyes, Foals, Mogwai, Local Natives… Come on! In 2015, this was an incredibly stacked soundtrack, and as much as I’d love to say my music taste has progressed in some way, I would happily die to go back to this era of indie folk and rock.
On its own, however, the Life is Strange soundtrack would just be a boring, inconsistent compilation of random songs — it only truly shines in the context of the game, where it meshes flawlessly with the world and characters it was curated to fill the gaps of.
For a game that leaves so much of its story up to the player, learning about each character’s music taste is, for me, the best way to connect to their personalities. Max, who tends to be reserved, is more attuned to indie folk, while Chloe, her crime-committing friend (or love interest depending on your choices!), loves heavier, edgier music. Growing up, I always felt more like Max because my timid little middle school self was intimidated by Chloe’s (as I embarrassingly would have called it) “heavier” music taste, though now, I’ve definitely grown into Chloe’s punk-loving shoes a bit (and I even have the hair to prove it!).
The player’s introductions to these characters are always soundtracked to each character’s favorite music — Max’s introduction is soundtracked to “To All of You” by Syd Matters, while Chloe swaps Max’s mellower music out for “Piano Fire” by Sparklehorse during her first moments in the game. Introducing these characters through music creates such a strong association of music tastes with personality, something that so accurately encapsulates the feeling of being a music-loving teenager.
Life is Strange introduces the player to the world through music as well. Throughout the game, strange environmental mishaps occur in Arcadia Bay, and rather than giving the player free reign to explore every location in the world, the unnerving feeling of the gradual descent of the world is introduced through songs.
The chaos of trying to navigate a party is amplified by the booming bassline of “Got Well Soon” by Breton. The daunting lack of control Max faces despite her powers is escalated by the distorted guitar in “The sense of me” by Mud Flow. And, most importantly, the terrifying feeling of a very drastic goodbye is set in stone when “Obstacles” by Syd Matters, a song introduced during the game’s first chapter, comes full circle and plays out during one of the game’s endings.
The way many of these climactic moments in Life is Strange are written is definitely flawed, and the game also just hasn’t aged very well — it just turned seven, and at this point, it’s full of cringey dialogue (“Ready for the mosh pit, shaka brah!”) and upsettingly 2015 outfits. Its soundtrack, though, taught me a lot about music.
This game’s introduction of characters and locations through songs created such strong associations and taught me that songs can tell stories that trespass far beyond the borders of their lyrics. Seven years later, I’m still forced to relive every moment of the ending of the game whenever “Obstacles” comes on, and I think that’s why I love this soundtrack so much — when I listen to this soundtrack, I just feel like I’m in Arcadia Bay (even though none of the songs were explicitly written for the game).
It also just introduced me to a genre I never thought I’d like. Prior to Life is Strange, my musical knowledge was limited to songs only the cringiest of middle schoolers would enjoy. But after playing this game, I was motivated to start perusing the depths of the internet in search of more music that would make me feel the way this soundtrack made me feel.
Now, the indie folk-loving boots that Life is Strange created for me are filled by artists like Sufjan Stevens, Lomelda, and Florist. I haven’t thought about the actual game Life is Strange in a long time (aside from a single admittedly nostalgia-induced replay last year), and I never played any of the games after the first. But if I ever want to feel like I’m back in 2015, or if I ever want to feel like I live inside of the most quirked up little town in Oregon instead of icy Wisconsin, I know the Life is Strange soundtrack has my back.