I’m a bit late posting this week’s blog entry because I needed some time to absorb the episode’s impact, and to get fan reactions before I offered my own commentary.  Because the music I wrote for Pretty Much Dead Already is some of my most powerful yet for “The Walking Dead,” I didn’t want to trivialize it by cutting it up into excerpts, so there are no audio or video clips this week.

Before going any further, I must point out that the remaining blog entry will deal almost exclusively with the final scene.  The words “SPOILER ALERT” do not begin to describe how important it is that you watch the episode before reading any further.  So, if you haven’t watched the episode, please go to your DVRs, TVs, iPods, Computers, DVDs or whatever you have and watch it first. Ok?  Good.  Here, we go…

Tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” Secrets, allowed me to further explore the exotic folksy instrumentation of the score.  One of the instruments I featured was the hurdy gurdy, as detailed in this week’s in-depth video blog:

The hurdy gurdy was not the only unusual instrument I used for this score.  I also wrote for Paul Cartwright on the electric fiddle.  Paul’s a fantastic instrumentalist I have worked with on virtually every project I’ve ever scored.  He was featured prominently throughout “Battlestar Galactica,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Dark Void,” “SOCOM 4,” and “Caprica” just to name a few.

SPOILERS BEYOND: This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” Chupacabra, is one of my favorites because it lets us really explore Daryl, one of my favorite characters.  He is ever determined to find Sophia out in the woods and continues to search for her on his own.  Unfortunately, he accidentally falls into a ravine where he is stabbed by one of his own arrows and must fight oncoming zombies and his own blood loss in order to survive.  During all this, he is motivated by visions of his brother Merle.  I underscored these visions with droning beds of hurdy gurdy and harmonium, as detailed in this week’s video blog:

These sequences with Daryl were a challenge because they needed to be both dream-like and yet also suspenseful.  So, I had to choose my instrumentation carefully.  In addition to the bed of ambient instrumentation, I also used low percussion to create a primal, tribal heartbeat:

SPOILERS BEYOND: A significant subplot in Cherokee Rose involves our heroes discovering a zombie floating in a well and fishing it out.  This was my only chance for intense action scoring this episode, so I wrote a heart-pounding percussion piece featuring Jonathan Ortega on exotic stringed percussion instruments, as featured in this week’s video blog:

The autoharps, psaltery and hammered dulcimer have been a part of the fabric of “The Walking Dead” score from the very beginning.  My philosophy with this series was to find instruments used in traditional bluegrass, folk and country music and distort or manipulate them until they are unrecognizable and create a unique musical signature for this world.

SPOILERS AHEAD: This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” Save The Last One, focuses on the group’s efforts to save Carl’s life.  The story follows two different narratives.  The first takes place at the farmhouse where Rick and Lori wait with growing impatience while Herschel tends to his wounds.  The second storyline follows Shane and Otis as they try to get surgical supplies from a local high school, but are trapped by zombies at every turn.  I wanted to create a score that would unify both these narratives with unrelenting tension, and I brought an unexpected musical instrument to the score, as I discuss in this week’s video blog:

My initial plan was to only use the Rhodes for the opening cue, where we cut between Rick and Lori in the bedroom and Shane and Otis running for their lives.  The deep, warm bass tones of the electric piano, combined with the stereo vibrato, created a melancholy tension that was somehow also mesmerizing:

This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead” finally takes us to Herschel’s farmhouse, a location that fans of the original comic book have been waiting for. Carl’s life hangs in the balance, so the entire score is infused with a tense, percussive backdrop that increases intensity throughout the episode.  One of the most featured instruments this week is the drum set, performed by Young Beautiful in a Hurry drummer Bryan Taylor, as seen in this week’s video blog:

DEAD SPOILERS AHEAD: After being shot at the end of last week’s episode, Carl is in dire need of medical attention when Rick brings him to the farmhouse.  I created a simple percussive backdrop that lays behind the entire scene, beginning a tense “ticking clock” idea that will underscore most of the episode:

Tonight is the long-awaited return of “The Walking Dead” for its second season.  What Lies Ahead is an appropriately-titled episode because this season will build on the momentum and character arcs established in our six-episode first season, and also expand into new settings, new trials and new characters.  Similarly, my original score is rooted in the stylistic language I developed in the first season, and also introduces new themes and instrumentation for the journey.  The season starts off right away with an emotionally-charged cue as you will see in this week’s video blog:

WALKING SPOILERS AHEAD:  This sequence, where Rick sends one last heartfelt message to Morgan, was a real challenge to score.  The first few minutes of this new season needed to bring the audience back into the world, but also generate the excitement of anticipation.  The cue starts off with ambient strings, and slowly introduces new layers as it builds energy.  Guitars, small percussion and drum kit and bass slowly sneak into the arrangement, creating what I hope is the sensation that we’re gearing up for an epic tale.