Dark Matter's orchestral score is a large part of what gives the show its unique identity, but the Apple TV sci-fi project also tastefully includes a handful of pre-existing songs when the occasion calls for it. Season 1 did this, and season 2 is continuing the trend. In the season 2 premiere, "A Quiet Life," the series has one of its best needle drops to date, but not because of how popular the song is.
In fact, I'd never heard it before. Originally released in 2010 as part of the soundtrack of a movie called A Quiet Life, the track in question was written and recorded by German two-piece Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld. It also made its way to their 2013 album, Still Smiling. It might not surprise you to learn that the track is called "A Quiet Life," a title that has been adopted by both the Dark Matter season 2 premiere and the 2010 movie I just mentioned. But why did the Apple TV show choose it? The lyrics make it pretty obvious.
"A Quiet Life" sounds purpose-written for Dark Matter season 2
The song's opening line, "Maybe this time, maybe this time I'll outwit my past," is a perfect summation of the situation Joel Edgerton's Jason Dessen and his family find themselves in. Every other line also comes across as though it was written for Dark Matter, rather than the unrelated 2010 feature film for which it was actually commissioned. Among the most relevant lyrics as the song plays over the Dessens fleeing to the box are "Maybe I can carve out a living in the cold at the outskirts of some city. I extinguish all my recent pasts, become another man again."
The song offers up other sentiments that all boil down to the idea that the narrator is being forced to run from his past and live in settings that he doesn't want to be in, but are at least safer than the one he left behind. He sings poetically of "drizzling rain" and "salted slush." There's nothing about clear blue skies or stunning beaches. It's a story of survival rather than a fresh start on his own terms. Again, it's important to remember this song wasn't written for Dark Matter; it just REALLY feels that way.
The song's third and final verse is the only one that doesn't make the edit in Dark Matter's season 2 premiere, but it's one of the most poignant. "I thought I had been given another chance again," it goes, "but heaven lies as usual." If you haven't heard the song out of context, I encourage you to go and check it out. It's great in its own right, but the fact that it's also an accidental musical blurb for Dark Matter gives it an added layer of meaning for fans of the show like me.
Dark Matter season 2 is streaming now on Apple TV.
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