Recently there’s been a lot of talk (including from me!) about the score to a recent 80s-throwback horror show on a popular streaming platform. While I do love attention being paid to cool, darkly moody synth music, I do want to point out that there is a ton of cool, darkly moody synth music already out in the world.

To that end, I give you: unsettled.

Audio Player

To capture the mood I was going for, I tried to stick to a few criteria. I looked for prominent, dark synths, often arpeggiated. I tried, for the most part, to avoid other instruments (especially drums, though some do appear here) and vocals. Reverb always helps, too — in fact, I cheated a bit and drenched one of the drier tunes in reverb myself.

Don’t worry, though — after all that dread, I did allow the last tune to be a little uplifting, so you’ll be able to continue on with your day, a little unscathed.

So, enjoy. Tracklist below.

• Disasterpeace, “It Follows: Title” (2015)
• Walls/Oram, “Extremely Long Corridor” (196X?/2014)
• Daft Punk, “Armory” (2010)
• John Carpenter, “Wrong Flavour” (1976)
• Johnathan Snipes & William Hutson, “Universal Weak Male” (2013)
• Laurel Halo, “Carcass” (2012)
• YOU, “Zone Black” (1983)
• Makeup and Vanity Set, “The Faceless Man” (2011)
• Majeure, “Termination Shock” (2014)
• Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory, “TEST” (2011)
• Skinny Puppy, “Love” (1986)
• Harper / Russe / St. George, “Nightwalker” (1972)
• AFX, “‎ssnb” (1994?)
• µ-Ziq, “Sleep” (1991)
• (d), “Trust” (2014)
• Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom, “Black Spring” (2005)
• X-TG, “E.H.s.” (2012)
• Ricardo Donoso, “Klatu” (2014)
• OK Ikumi, “Slope” (2012)
• Nathaniel Ritter, “Tleilaxu Metaphors” (2012)
• Chroma Key, “Come In, Over” (2004)