Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun‘s new A24 film I Saw the TV Glow arrived in theaters last week, and the soundtrack is out now; stream it below. It includes yeule’s Broken Social Scene cover, Florist’s “Riding Around in the Dark,”, Caroline Polachek’s “Starburned and Unkissed,” and new tracks from Frances Quinlan of Hop Along, Sloppy Jane featuring former member Phoebe Bridgers, Jay Som, L’Rain, Maria BC, King Woman, Bartees Strange, The Weather Station, Drab Majesty, Proper., and Sadurn.
“From the beginning I talked about the soundtrack as its own creative project,” Schoenbrun told Stereogum. “Part of my initial pitch to A24 on making the movie was that I wanted to make one of the great teen angst soundtracks to stand up against my own favorites.”
They also told Stereogum that they gave a “prompt” to artists contributing to the soundtrack: “write the song you would play if you had been around in the ’90s and were booked to play at the Bronze on Buffy The Vampire Slayer or the Peach Pit on My So-Called Life or the Roadhouse on Twin Peaks. This trope has maybe passed us by a little bit, where there’s a club in whatever small town where the TV show takes place where all the characters hang out. I love that, and it fits within the world of the movie, which is the world of ’90s television.” Read the interview in full here.
The soundtrack is out on vinyl in July with an exclusive track from Snail Mail (whose Lindsay Jordan has a significant part in the film). Pre-order it here.