The Severance theme deconstructed

[Guy Rowland]

I'm a huge, huge fan of both the show and the theme. I will never ever press the SKIP button during the titles. This guy does a great job of pulling it apart musically and showing why it is such a brilliant fit, with zero spoilers. Just a couple more observations from me.

1. Even though there's a ton of jarring dissonance in there, it always feel superficially pleasing. On a surface level it's a pretty theme, quite the earworm, everything flows naturally and nicely. It wears its dissonance lightly, which is why it works so well. It's just a feeling underneath the surface that all is not right, which grows until it fractures completely at the end.

2. He missed one sonic trick - on the B theme piano figure towards the end, you get it echoed 4 bars later. The notes and chords are identical, but it's pushed way back spatially, like a true echo over a period of 5 or 6 seconds.

(3. General note that the arrangement and production is stellar. Love his percussion sounds, strings and wavy keys in particular.)

Theodore Shapiro has done such great work throughout this series, and the music - like all the best film & tv music - is the soul of the show.

[Luke]

Ah, the Severance theme. Was hooked the first time I heard it. But then again, Shapiro knows his stuff!

To your point 1:
I don't hear this as terribly dissonant. Surely a function of the pedal tone keeping my ear rooted (ha!) in the tonic. Speaks volumes to the power of this technique for easing the ear into (semi) functional dissonance. When done well, like it is here, you can get away with nearly anything.

Point 2: very cool trick indeed, the fading away. This feels really unsettling to me, quite a bit more so than the dissonance mentioned at the top.

My own observations: I think the melody and its bits are the most sensible choices for the harmonic content played and make lots of sense in that context. I thought it was rather a small stroke of genius to have the pedal play on 2+4, thereby alternating with the upper structures and implying that same sense of alternation for the series. If you think about the possibilities of doing this rhythmically, this feels like the perfect fit to me.

On a separate, and more negative note (hopefully this won't be inflammatory): I find the presenter's style somewhat abrasive (specifically the incessant playing while talking, though I'm not a huge fan of the exuberance either). I did not enjoy him spending over 3 minutes discussing what he THOUGHT the chord sequence was before moving to what it actually IS. If he didn't hear that tritone relationship in the first 5 seconds of hearing the theme, perhaps he should have considered not doing the video at all. But I digress into a general disliking of, and my own issues with this kind of media.

P.S. When he slipped and mistakenly played an E major in the chord sequence, I wish he had spent a little more time on it, as it is another inspired choice by Shapiro. The E major is the logical chromatic choice after the F, but is also highly predictable - the ear knows it's coming, we have heard it before so many times. By making it an Ab minor instead, Shapiro catches our ear by surprise, the minor quality pointing more heavily in the same direction of "something is not right here." You could even argue that the chord makes more sense in the context of the show, as it belongs to one of the Modes of the Tonic and therefore, the Pedal.

[Guy Rowland]

Love all that Luke! Great observation on the 2+4 of the pedal.

My own ability to deconstruct it melodically is woeful, my knowledge of theory pathetic. So I actually I did like his mis-playing of it initially, because all my spidey senses went HE'S PLAYING IT WRONG! I didn't know why, I knew it just sounded wrong. I do everything by intuition and feel, so for someone so theoretically challenged I rather liked that approach but point absolutely taken for anyone better versed than I.

[Luke]

You are right, perhaps it was a bit insensitive on my part. The sound of the Tonic (major or minor) moving via tritone is so engrained in my brain, from scores and my own attempts at using it, that it has become a highly identifiable sound. It's like the screech of a banshee!

[Linos]

Stunning and unique music. And the visuals are just as great. I don't know the show, and I'm going to talk about how I feel about the music without googling anything about it. The only background I have is the video Guy linked to.

The pedal tone is cleverly used to make sharp dissonances digestible. It's an old compositional trick that you can omit a pedal note from the harmonic equation. The chords over the pedal are not dissonant themselves. That's why the sequence sounds superficially pleasant, while it clashes with the pedal note.

Another technique is that if you prepare dissonances and resolve them in certain ways, you can write stuff that is really wild harmonically without it sounding out of place. But that's a tangent.

I also agree on the quality of the production. It adds a lot to the theme. It's deliberately overpolished. So much so that creates an uncanny valley effect for me. It's so perfect that it sounds unnatural and unsettling. It's almost as if something deeply wrong is trying to pass itself off as perfectly normal.

The repeated chords and the first motif go round and round in circles, never getting anywhere. A claustrophobic treadmill from which you can't escape. There is no development. Instead, the theme becomes more intense as elements are added.

It gives the feeling that something is very wrong underneath a smooth surface. One of the most memorable themes I have heard in a long time.

[Guy Rowland]

That's great to read from someone who hasn't seen the show! Okay Linos, now you have to watch the series - it more than lives up to the titles.

The whole score is great. I think the last episode of season one is truly one of the greatest episodes of TV ever made, and the cues from that ep are spine-tingling.

[Linos]

Another series to watch apart from The White Lotus 3 and The Traitors 25. Severance is definitely on my list now.

[Guy Rowland]

[Luke]

Most excellent! All we need now is a Muppets version.

[Jaap]

What a stunning theme. I have not seen the show, read about it of course a lot but just don't have any time at the moment to watch anything. But this show just made it to the top of what I would likely start watching.
Beside all that is said already I must say I particular like the bass sound that starts when he jumps into the open head (watched the 2022 theme version on YT) and love that the bass has a punch, but at the same time also a sort of reversing effect. Almost like something is kicking in, while another thing is being sucked out.

But the atmosphere is just what is amazing for me. Just loving it!

[Guy Rowland]

I've never properly analysed that bass before Jaap, good spot.

The first 4 bars of the bass are fairly straightforward, but when the beat comes in what I'm hearing is actually portamento that is producing that strange effect. Often you might bring forward the note so it slides into the beat, but here it's happening late. Also the kick is happening on the off beat of 3 as the motif goes back down, whereas the bass note is the 4th beat of the bar, which is also woozy.

I thoroughly recommend the whole season one score btw. Done For The Night is sublime. Being VERY careful to avoid spoilers, the last three tracks all from the season finale are heart-stopping. IIRC that entire episode is scored like one long cue which is very out of character for the show, but combined with other technical things I like to geek out about works brilliantly.

I hope once the last episode is released for season two we'll get that soundtrack too.

As for the show itself, I'm thrilled for anyone who has yet to watch it! Season one is a masterpiece, so brilliantly structured leading up to what could be my favourite single episode of any TV show. Season two' is very strong too - its highs are every bit as good as season one, but overall it has not been quite as consistent thus far. Now the show has become a huge hit for Apple and driving subscribers to the platform, I do hope they can avoid the temptation to drag it out forever. I'd far rather it ended after one more season with the quality level really high than have it get lost it in its own coils.