Monday, May 1, 2017

Soundtrack Feature: Jessica Jones

Soundtrack of the Month: May 2017

The films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are not particularly known for their female protagonists. While they have strong female characters, they're often relegated to slightly lesser roles, and there has yet to be a film centered around a female character. Thankfully, if you're looking for quality material starring women, Marvel's television subcontinuity has you covered. Jessica Jones is the second entry in Marvel's series of interlocking Netflix shows, following Daredevil and directly succeeded by Luke Cage.

Jessica Jones is a very unique story for the Marvel universe. It's not about a superhero—it's about someone who has superpowers, tried out the superhero thing a long time ago, and had her world turned upside down and shattered. Many years later she works as an alcoholic private detective, estranged from everyone she cares about.

Sound depressing? It is. It's also extremely dark, and one of my favorite stories of all time. Jessica Jones is what actually made me start reading Marvel comics. I loved it so much that I went and purchased a massive, hardcover, 28-issue omnibus of Alias, the original comic series that introduced and starred the character.

The music of the show is composed by Sean Callery, and is quite different from any Marvel soundtrack to come before. It's very noir-esque to fit the style of the show.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Jessica Jones Main Title – The Daredevil theme was extremely impressive, and set a very high bar. Not only did the Jessica Jones theme meet the bar; some would say it surpassed it. If only the shows' successors had continued the trend.

Track 5: Fight at Luke's Bar – This sounds like it would've been incredibly difficult to compose. Though, probably pretty fun as well.

Track 10: Jessica on the Move – This and a few other tracks actually give me a bit of a Halo 3: ODST vibe. I guess I have an ear for genre-bending noir hybrids.

Track 21: Jones-Cage Match – I thought puns were Michael Giacchino's thing. Huh.



Purchase Jessica Jones (Original Soundtrack) on iTunes or Amazon MP3.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.