In a word, the score for the long-awaited second season of Netflix’s chaotic comedy-drama Beef is inescapable.
From the opening moments of episode one, the music is the first thing viewers hear — the dominant sound ushering in the show’s establishing shots and dialogue for the next 10 minutes of the series before it finally reaches a notable halt.
“It wasn’t until I was on the mixing stage for episode one, which was pretty near the end of the whole process of scoring the show, that I realized it,” says mononymous singer-songwriter Finneas. “We were watching episode one, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There’s so much music in this series, and it’s used so prominently. Sometimes a score really is a background character.”
Like any good character, Finneas’ score contains multitudes. The 10-minute track, “Cold Open,” weaves between tranquility and the anxiousness of being on pins and needles, while “Music for Hospitals” is a bit more sinister and winding, like spelunking in a dark cave. “Vicious Thoughts,” by contrast, is pretty — and almost startling.
There’s a lot of music. The 32-song soundtrack is an hour and a half, and, according to Finneas, there’s plenty more that got left out. But it’s hard to give an exact descriptor for the lyricless, synthy score he put together for the show. It’s tense but whimsical, at some points almost fitting for a tech news podcast.
