The Umbrella Academy released on Netflix on 15 February. I binge watched it on the Saturday following release. The show follows a family of 7 siblings with special abilities (or not so special). We see them as dysfunctional and messed up adults but then jump back in a series of flashbacks to their past – which helps us realise how they ended up where they are now. I enjoyed the first 10 episodes. Some of the story line is somewhat predictable but for the most part it is a rad watch.
I especially enjoyed the performances and interactions between Robert Sheehan (Klaus) and Justin H. Min (Ben). Klaus is definitely my favourite in the series.
The Umbrella Academy was originally a comic book series that was created by Gabriel Ba, a Brazilian comic book artist and Gerard Way. Way was the co-founder and lead singer of My Chemical Romance. They were kind of a big deal when I was leaving high school and inspired a host of weird emo hair cuts. Welcome to the Black Parade was one of their success songs (and albums). Way even gets a little feature in the show. One of the siblings, Vanya, published an autobiography about her crazy special family. When we see the back cover of the book there happens to be a review from none other than Gerard Way.
Don’t be disappointed – I had no clue it was there and only found out when I was trying to hunt down the song listing.
Let me be clear: the show is enjoyable. But the sound track is extraordinary. The instrumentals are goosebump material and I love the classical nods. The song features are used in such a clever manner, well placed and remarkably fitting. Way has mentioned in previous interviews about the show that he can’t take credit for the song features. According to him Steve Blackman (the executive producer and show runner) actually writes specific songs into the script. It allows a way to counterpoint violence and it works well.
If you’ve watched the show – you’ll know the Run Boy Run moment which immediately makes the hair on the back of you neck stand up (I don’t want to spoil it but it involves Number 5 jumping through time repeatedly).
The official soundtrack for the show features a host of instrumentals that I listen to when writing BUT the song features from the likes of The Kinks, They Might be Giants and even Gerard Way himself are best listened to alone in your car. The entire features list can be found on the Netflix website. However, I wanted all these songs grouped together so I had new “driving” music. If, like me, you want these on demand – then fear not.
First option: Apple Music. I found all the songs (albeit 2) and have made a playlist on Apple Music, if you’re an Apple Music user.
Option 2: There is a Spotify playlist as well. I’m not sure if it has all the songs on it but you’ll get most of what you’re looking for:
Let me know if you’ve seen the show and what you think?
