Album Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2 [OST] by Original Soundtrack

Good news, Twihards: Any of these songs could be the first dance at your Twedding. From Passion Pit’s church-bell ringer ”Where I Come From” to Christina Perri’s violin-strung ”A Thousand Years (Part 2),” there’s one grand-ballroom epic after another in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 Soundtrack, ranging from ethereal (”Bittersweet” from Ellie Goulding, above) to awesomely sludgy (St. Vincent’s ”The Antidote”).

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Since Breaking Dawn is the final installment of the Twilight Saga, it's fitting that the film's soundtrack is dominated by ballads that feel like a long goodbye to Bella, Edward, and Jacob. Despite opening with Passion Pit's relatively cheery "Where I Come From" -- one of the more overt nods to the series' mostly happy ending -- songs such as Pop Etc.'s "Speak Up" and Iko's "Heart of Stone" define The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn's music with their breathy harmonies, spare instrumentation, and ultra-earnest tone. The set sometimes threatens to become too maudlin and monotonous, but Ellie Goulding's "Bittersweet" and Feist's "Fire in the Water" add a spark of creativity to the proceedings.

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Say what you will about the Twilight series, but over the course of four films, the soundtracks have given us originals from the likes of Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, Lykke Li, Florence and the Machine, and The Black Keys, as well as collaborations between Beck and Bat for Lashes, and Bon Iver and St. Vincent. They’ve constructed a crossroads where fans of critically acclaimed rock and indie and those with bedazzled Team Edward T-shirts meet in the name of music, and the final installment is no exception.

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The mark of a successful soundtrack is the realization that you can enjoy it completely divorced from the film it accompanies. “Saturday Night Fever” and “Garden State” come to mind. The “Twilight” franchise, starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as brooding star-crossed lovers, has been hip to that approach since the beginning. The latest edition stays true to the blueprint, enlisting a broad swath of artists of varying degrees of fame and genre.

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