The Social Network Music

I finally saw The Social Network last night. While Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor's soundtrack was great to listen to before hand, I have an entirely new appreciation for it now that I can put it in context (in itself, a decent argument for waiting to see the film before I listen to soundtracks).

When I got home, I was inspired to try to write something along the lines of the haunting theme from the film, "Hand Covers Bruise."

I limited my melodic instruments to those predominant in the song, piano and droning sounds.

While my inspiration lacked percussion, many of the other songs on the soundtrack feature lo-fi drum machines, so I thought I'd give adding them a shot.

The percussion was written very spontaneously, working in some polyrhythms, with intention of staying very "8-bit" and non-intrusive. I think it probably ended up taking the spotlight more than I intended, but I'm happy with the result. I feel like it makes for an interesting listen while also separating it from the song it was trying to become.

Here's what I came up with. It's a start.

• Put on head phones.
• Listen for the way that the piano delay freezes and loops in the background as the percussion comes in. I let the loop hang on for a second after everything else drops out so that you know what to listen for when you go back.