5 out of 5

Label: iam8bit

Produced by: Brad Breeck

Starting in the late 00s, Nickelodeon and indie rocker Brad Breeck formed what would be a prodigious relationship, setting the composer up to work on several long-running series – including Gravity Falls’ three seasons. Brad’s sparkly, quirky style – a little kitsch; a little bit of indie poppy skronk, a la Self; a video game-y sense of glitchiness – was and is a great fit for the Adventure Time-era of kid cartoons, which have subsumed the meme-ness of social media and the somewhat forced awareness of internet culture and grafted it to nonsense adventures of yore. Sometimes this still produces typical empty-headed stuff, but you get splashes of really smart, demographic-spanning shows, and Breeck’s work is a good fit for either one of those… though, of course, I’d argue that the depth of the compositions (belied by their catchiness!) is better suited to the “better” shows.

Gravity Falls was kind of hit or miss with its mythology for me, but it still belongs in the upper echelon of these types of series, and the way it stuck to its storytelling guns over three season earned my viewership, as well as made it an excellent rewatch. But a huge part of all of that – of juggling the mystery and drama and comedy – was Brad’s music, touching not only all the score work (including a brilliantly fun theme), but also the made-up songs that frequently appeared throughout.

What I appreciate the most about the composer’s works is that it’s an identifiable sound, but definitely tuned to each show. For GF, there’s a homespun, camp-like vibe to its sing-songyness, but the sense of discovery (and slight danger!) that’s ever present is wound into that vibe, allowing the music – like the writing – to swing between goofy and very meaty, cinematic stuff. Packaged across 2- LPs, the score is especially immersive, as the approximate first season of material feels a bit more surface level and electronic-tinged – bouncier – and then gets increasingly more emotional and organic as we proceed. Even without knowing the show’s plot, you can feel things getting more “serious,” told in the way the way tune gets revisited several times, peaking in the creepy semi-reversed version on side D.

The juggling of moods is perhaps best told by the entire D-side, as a matter of fact, as we step through some legitimately sad and weighty tunes, before the bittersweet but funny but still low-key spooky We’ll Meet Again (sung by the cast) caps it off. And throughout the whole album, when the characters do pipe in for a song here and there, rather than it being some Disney singalong nonsense, because Brad is involved the whole way, it fits. It’s super silly, but the compositional elements keep it linked with everything else. (The sole exception is the faux-boy band medley from “Boyz Crazy,” which really doesn’t sync well, but you had to include this stuff somewhere, and it’s at least on the A-side when things are a bit more sprightly in general.)

Iam8bit’s vinyl pressing and the mastering (from Townsend Mastering) is good; I never find their works anything to write home about, but they’re consistent – just that it doesn’t “gain” anything by being on vinyl versus, say, digital. But they do bring it on the packaging, and this gatefold is packed by lots of goofy visual Easter Eggs fitting with the show, plus some appropriately weird art from Ghostshrimp. It looks good, and it keeps the show’s spirit alive.

I really enjoyed this even more than I was expecting to, as I was quite surprised with how dense and emotive tracks got, as soon as the B-side, and then increasingly as it goes on, while still totally working with the goofier stuff. That aside, these tunes are just catchy as all get-out. I would love for more of Brad’s stuff to make its way to a physical format…