Life Is Strange Complete Soundtrack

Overview

This is a guide to all music in Life Is Strange and includes a link to a YouTube playlist of all music.

Introduction

Life Is Strange Complete Soundtrack Released! from lifeisstrange

This is a YouTube playlist of every piece of music in Life Is Strange. This guide explains how music works in the game, where each track plays, and how music works in certain scenes.

This project began when I downloaded Człowiek Drzewo’s soundtrack. In his version, he labels each instrumental track as “Track 1,” “Track 2,” and so on, so I tried to label each instrumental track based on when it played in the game. The project quickly grew when it became apparent that there were still some pieces of music in the game not present in his version.

What this soundtrack includes

This soundtrack has every piece of music that plays during the main game in order of appearance, resulting in 145 tracks and 6 hours and 7 minutes of music. This includes both instrumental tracks composed by Jonathan Morali and licensed music by various artists. In turn, there are two types of licensed tracks: those from Audio Network[us.audionetwork.com] and those that are not. Audio Network tracks are usually less prominent and not in cutscenes, such as the music Dana plays in her room, music at the Two Whales, and most of the music from the Vortex Club party. Licensed tracks not from Audio Network are almost always used in cutscenes and were officially released outside of Life Is Strange. These tracks were also included in the Life Is Strange Official Soundtrack, and in some cases, were shortened in the game. For these, I have included both the original version of the track and the edited version that appears in the game. The official soundtrack only includes the original versions.

Additionally, when possible I have included the lyrics with songs in their metadata. I do not guarantee they are 100% accurate, especially in the case of difficult songs to transcribe like “Got Well Soon.” Also, not all of the songs from Audio Network have lyrics online and transcribing those lyrics would be labor intensive and delay the release of the soundtrack. If anyone is interested in lyric transcription, contact me and I will gladly include your lyrics and give you credit.

What this soundtrack DOES NOT include

This soundtrack does not include any music from trailers, teasers, or the recaps that play at the beginning of Episodes 2 – 5 unless that music is also present in the game itself. As I recall, only the teaser for Episode 4 has music (“Got Well Soon”) and the recaps play “Max & Chloe.” It also does not include the instrumental tracks from the official soundtrack, as many of those are slightly different than the music that plays in the game. For example, “Kate” from the official soundtrack has a slightly different arrangement on the official soundtrack. While I do want this soundtrack to be as exhaustive as possible with regard to the original game, I also do not wish to compete with the official soundtrack release, which is why I decided not to include the instrumental tracks from the official soundtrack unless they are the same as what plays in the game.

As for audio in the game itself, obviously this does not include dialogue or sound effects, with just a few sound effects that I will note in the track listing. I did not include what plays when Max focuses on a photo, as the game considers it a sound effect.

Additionally, there are four appearances of music in the game that I do not include. In all these cases I decided the music was too faint and not distinct enough to be worth including and was better classified as part of the background sound effects.

The first is on the main campus in Episode 1, where Justin and the other skaters play their own music on a phone in addition to the non-diegetic background music. They play three instrumental tracks from Audio Network: Skate Park by Barrie Gledden and Richard Kimmings[www.audionetwork.com];Deserted 2 by Barrie Gledden, Kes Loy, and Richard Kimmings[www.audionetwork.com]; and No Regrets 2 by Barrie Gledden, Kes Loy, and Richard Kimmings[www.audionetwork.com].

I also do not include music in the hallway of Blackwell in Episode 2. There, Luke plays two songs on his phone: ) and (. Also, an unknown girl plays music near the bathroom: Mind Made Up by William Davies[www.audionetwork.com] and Live My Dream by William Davies, Edward Nutbrown, and Charles Nutbrown[www.audionetwork.com].

Next at the end of Episode 3, there is a light background beat when Max first arrives in the alternative timeline and is sitting with members of the Vortex Club. No idea where this is from. It is not in a full list[forums.eu.square-enix.com] of all Audio Network tracks.

Finally, Max can hear music from Evan’s room in the boy’s dorms in Episode 4: ().

Also, a lot of fans really enjoy the music from the . In addition to variations of “The Storm” theme from the game, it also has and .

Audio Sources

The tracks come from four primary sources. Most of the tracks are audio rips using

[EP5 Spoilers] Release: Life is Strange complete sound archive (mp3/ogg) from lifeisstrange

made by https://www.reddit.com/user/RenegadeWade on reddit. Some are renamed tracks from Człowiek Drzewo’s soundtrack. The original versions of the licensed tracks are from the official soundtrack. Finally, if I could not find the music in the audio rips, I recorded the music directly using Audacity and turning off dialogue and sound effects in the game’s audio settings.

How Music Works

For a more technical explanation of how music works, see this blog post.[blog.audiokinetic.com]

Music in Life is Strange is controlled by triggers, meaning when an event occurs the game will play a music track or multiple tracks. In many cases the trigger is the beginning of the scene, but in some cases it can be caused by a change in the scene as triggered by the player. For example, when Max goes downstairs for breakfast in the Price household in Episode 3 there is no music track playing. When she talks to Joyce however, will play. In the track list and the comments metadata for each file, I have noted every trigger for each music track.

Also, the game plays music two ways: on loop and finite. plays on loop when Max and Chloe first ride in the truck in Episode 1, meaning once it reaches the end of the track, it will start playing from 1:20 in the track until the scene ends and the music fades out. Finite tracks only play the track once and then no music plays. plays from the beginning of Max and Chloe’s return to the junkyard at night in Episode 4, but after playing for the full 52 seconds, the track ends and no more music will play until they reach Rachel’s burial place. In the track list and comments metadata, if I do not say the track plays on loop, then it is a finite track.

In addition, sometimes the game plays multiple tracks at the same time or adds a new layer of music due to a trigger. For example, when Max and Chloe break into Blackwell at night, the scene starts with and will play on loop. When Max walks further into Blackwell to get bomb supplies, an extra layer of music starts playing on top of “Breaking and Entering,” together making . The extra layer will fade away when Max goes back to the principal’s office. In some cases I use two files for this; in others I include both the single and double layers in the same file.

Some of the scenes in the game are too complex to fully explain in the track list or metadata, so I will explain these scenes in this guide.

Pause Menu and Max’s Diary

There are two different tracks that play on both the Pause Menu and Max’s Diary, though they both sound very similar. The difference is their opening and the opening’s length; version 1’s opening lasts for 1:03 and version 2’s opening lasts 0:50. Both versions then start playing an identical track that loops every 1:05.

When you first open the Pause Menu or diary, the game randomly plays either version, and then alternates back and forth between the two versions as you open and close the Pause Menu or diary. In other words, if version 1 plays when you pause the first time, version 2 will play when you pause the second time, and version 1 will play again the third time.

If you pause during some cutscenes, instead of opening the menu the screen is covered with a pause icon. It will still play either version of the pause menu music and alternate back and forth as you pause and unpause, just like with the pause menu.

Perhaps obviously, opening the pause menu or diary will pause the music and audio playing in the game itself and will resume right where it was stopped when you resume play.

Blackwell Academy

The “Main Campus” area in Episode 1 and “Dormitories” area in Episode 4 both follow unique rules for area music. “Main Campus” opens with the finite track which either fades out when the track ends or will fade into the loop “Blackwell Academy Fountain” (track 14) if Max sits on the fountain or under one of the trees. Once the opening track has played, after a couple minutes without music one of the four tracks I named “Blackwell Academy Main Campus” will play at random.

Once the track runs out it is followed again by another two minutes without music and then plays one of the four tracks. I’ve never heard the same track played twice in a row, but the order the tracks play does vary. For example, you might have track 1, then 2, then 3, then 1 again. At any time, if Max sits on the fountain or under the tree it will fade into

The “Dormitories” area in Episode 4 follows similar rules. It also opens with a finite track, and again plays one of the same four tracks at random after two minutes without music. It does not have a place for Max to sit that will play music.

Max’s Room

You have control of Max in her room four times: Episode 1, 2, 3, and 5. Episode 3’s appearance does not have any music after the opening cutscene, and Episode 5 plays Neither scene lets you play music on her Hi-Fi or guitar, which you can do in both Episode 1 and 2. In Episode 1, Max can play on her Hi-Fi, and she will play . If the song is playing on the Hi-Fi, she will . Episode 2 opens with playing in Max’s room, which she can either turn off or will just stop playing after enough time passes. She can then turn it back on.

For a more technical explanation of how music works in Max’s room in Episode 2, see this blog post.[blog.audiokinetic.com]

Dana’s Room

Dana will play music in her room in Episode 2. She plays three songs from the Audio Network, and turns the music off if Max starts to talk to her. The three songs initially play in this order:

Then, the songs go back up the list, so “Naughty” plays again followed by “What a Day.” Then it goes back down the list again. In other words, the loop continuously goes up and down the list, meaning “Naughty” plays a lot more often than the other two songs if you bother to stand around in Dana’s room for a really long time.

Chloe’s Room

Aside from the alternate timeline, Max visits Chloe’s room four times, once in Episodes 1 and 3 and twice in Episode 4. Two licensed songs play on Chloe’s Hi-Fi in Episode 1: and Aside from putting in the CD that plays Max does not have control over when the songs play, unlike in later episodes. In Episode 3, Max can play a song on the Hi-Fi once finishes playing. At that point, she can choose between , , and . Once that song finishes playing, she can choose to play another song. Episode 4 introduces a fourth song in Chloe’s room, when Max returns to the original timeline. This first time in Chloe’s room in Episode 4, she is unable to play further songs on the Hi-Fi once “In My Mind” finishes playing. When Max and Chloe return to her room to complete their investigation, Max can play any one of those four songs that have previously played in Chloe’s room. Once again, she can choose another song once it finishes playing.

David’s Garage

If Max defends David in Episode 3, David will stay in the garage in Episode 4 and play music on his radio. The radio plays the following three tracks in this order:

Unlike Dana’s music, which also consists of three tracks, his music actually loops. So, after Mustang Drive, Preacher Man 2 will play and the loop starts over again.

Vortex Club End of the World Party

The party scene begins outside with a muffled version of the entrance music, which I called This plays during a finite cutscene, and plays again, this time on loop, in Episode 5 when Max uses Warren’s photo to go back to warn Chloe. It then plays on full volume on loop in the party lobby in The last ten seconds or so of this track play when Max walks into the main party area, which will cause the game to crossfade into

The music in the main party area consists of the following ten tracks in this order:

With the exception of “Got Well Soon,” all of these tracks are from Audio Network. Each track transitions into the next, much like a real DJ would. For example, the last 17 seconds or so of “Bamalam” include sampled audio from “Make the Call”. As a result, the division between some of the tracks is fairly arbitrary, and the game itself places them together in one track. Most releases of the party music that I’ve seen release them this way, but I decided to make them separate in order to make the name of each track and the artists clear. To make the transitions between tracks seamless, I recommend playing them in a medium that does not have a break between tracks. This is why I decided to combine them in my YouTube playlist.

Also, the music will also become quieter if Max goes into the locker room and become louder when she goes back out into the pool area.

Because “Got Well Soon” is the only track released on a separate album, I include the original without the DJ transition. In most cases I put the Life Is Strange version first, followed by the original. In this case, I place the original first so that the can transition into “Bamalam.”

Finally, a muffled snippet of “Make the Call” plays during the cutscene when Max and Chloe leave the party and get a text from “Nathan.” I include this as

Credits

The first half of the credits track is identical to the original , except for a slight hum at the beginning from “Golden Hour.” It’s possible the game tries to load the menu before loading the credits at the end of each episode. While it might be an error, I decided to include it as it is what plays in the game. The second half is a loop that differs in length for each episode’s credits. The version I use is from Episode 5. I also use “artistic license” in the track’s conclusion, as the version in game merely fades out abruptly at the end. Because this is the final track, I wanted the ending to be a bit more substantial, so I used a volume drop in the last few seconds followed by a fade out. This was heavily inspired by the conclusion to the credits track in Człowiek Drzewo’s soundtrack, though my version has a slightly longer fade out.

Here is the length of each episode’s credits, at least in the PC version:

Episode 1: 7:21
Episode 2: 6:33
Episode 3: 6:51
Episode 4: 6:36
Episode 5: 7:10

Rewinding

Music does not play during rewinds (with one exception). All the audio during a rewind is sound effects.

I did not test this exhaustively, but almost everywhere I tried handles music the same way when Max rewinds. The music simply mutes while Max is rewinding; the music does not rewind along with Max. This is true for both diegetic and non-diegetic music. For example, if “In My Mind” has played for exactly 30 seconds and Max rewinds for 5 seconds, the song will resume at 35 seconds, not 25 or 30 seconds. This may not make a whole lot of narrative sense for diegetic music, but it was presumably easier for Dontnod to program.

There are two exceptions that I know of. When Max saves Chloe from the train, the track plays, which is 1:30 long, the exact amount of time Max has to save Chloe without rewinding. (Side note: it is possible to do so if you do everything right, which I learned from frequent audio testing). Rewinding during this scene will also rewind the music, so if the track has played for 30 seconds and Max rewinds for five seconds, it will resume playing at 25 seconds.

The other exception is during the nightmare: Here, when Max rewinds the track becomes during the rewind, then reverses itself again when the rewind ends. begins at the end of so Max rewinding at 30 seconds into plays at 3 minutes. If she rewinds for five seconds then, resumes at 25 seconds.

Episode 1

Track Name

Artist

Comments

Runtime

Golden Hour (Main Menu)

Jonathan Morali

This plays on loop on the main menu. Once the track reaches 2:32, it loops back to 0:47.