Milan Records releases The Walking Dead: Dead City (Original Television Series Soundtrack) with music by Ian Hultquist. The 20-track album is available today, June 23, on digital platforms here. The series is available now on AMC and AMC+.
Similar to the show, the music is dark and industrial, using sampled organic and environmental sounds. Sampled in abandoned warehouses and various other deteriorated areas, these sounds include banging on pipes, vibrating grain silos, playing instruments such as brass and guitar sounds and repitching, looping, and reverberating them in the studio.
"[I had] a few friends design samples & sounds specifically for the show. They helped create a lot of the booms & percussion, and the drones in [episode 5]. My assistant Ben Van is an avid field recordist and spent his holiday break in Maine recording sounds in abandoned warehouses. They literally look like Dead City sets," says Ian.
The underscore supported vulnerable moments in the show, using strings, drums, synths, Therevox, distorted Baritone guitar, and Guitarviol.