Gustavo Santaolalla’s score for The Last Of Us is a deeply heartfelt, emotional and effective score that blends elements of South American musical traditions and Americana into a stirring work of art.

It brings life and depth to the otherwise barren world of the story.

Originally hired to compose music for the first video game of the same name, Santaolalla’s themes have become some of the best-loved and most influential video game compositions in recent memory.

Santaolalla has since gone on to continue his work with the sequel to the original video game, and now HBO’s live-action adaptation television series.

Let’s explore some of Santaolalla’s themes from The Last of Us and take a look at how they have been iterated across mediums.

WHO IS GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA?

Santaolalla is a musician, composer and record producer originally from Ciudad Jardin, Argentina, a city now renowned as the birth place and home of several prominent jazz and rock musicians.

Santaolalla was drawn to music from an early age. His grandmother gifted him a guitar as a young child and by ten years of age, his teacher left due to his inability to keep up with the young prodigy.

By 16, he had secured his first recording contract. Santaolalla was pivotal in the development of rock music in Argentina, working with several bands through the late 1960s and 70s including Arco Iris and Soluna.

He launched a solo career with the release of Santaolalla in 1981, where he blended the sounds of 80s music and Argentinian styles.

His love affair with traditional Argentinian instruments, in particular a variety of charango called the ronroco. The ronroco is a stringed instrument similar to a guitar, but with four sets of doubled strings as opposed to six single strings like a guitar.

Variations on the instrument are common throughout South and Central America and the instrument has become a defining sound in Santaolalla’s soundtrack work, cropping up in scores for Babel, The Insider and The Motorcycle Diaries.

INSTRUMENTAL CHOICES AND PROCESS

Santaolalla’s music for The Last Of Us likewise features the ronroco, as well as acoustic and electric guitars; a special variation on the baritone guitar called the Fender 6, a unique nylon string guitar with custom made strings; and banjo in addition to various electronics, strings and electric piano.

The video game’s writers wanted to focus the narrative arc of the music more on the emotional relationship between the characters and less on the horror aspects of the game.

This in turn led Santaolalla to compose much more minimalistic and tender music than you might traditionally hear in a zombie-horror game.

Additionally, Santaolalla prefers to compose music directly from the script, before seeing any of the visuals. This allows him to form a more direct and personal relationship with the characters.

For example, Santaolalla had composed nearly the entire score for Brokeback Mountain before a single frame was shot. This in turn allowed the film’s director, Ang Lee, to shape and mold the film’s narrative arc with the music as a prime influence.

‘THE LAST OF US’

Santaolalla’s main theme, titled “The Last Of Us”, opens with a strong arpeggiated figure on his signature ronroco, with a percussive and driving rhythm underneath.

A melancholic violin melody floats over the top, in and out from the background while the harmonies shift gear into a more hopeful territory.

This theme is heard numerous times throughout the video games and series. It is the primary theme of the story and is iterated at various times on different instruments and with slight variations in tempo.

‘THE LAST OF US (GOODNIGHT)’

We hear the variation “The Last Of Us (Goodnight)” in episode six of the series and in the original video game.

The cue is a short iteration of the melody played freely by Santaolalla on his ronroco.

‘THE LAST OF US (ASTRAY)’

We hear the variation “The Last Of Us (Astray)” in the first episode of the new series. However, this variation first appeared in part two of the video game.

The theme opens in a similar way, this time performed on nylon string acoustic guitar. We hear a subtle change in the bass motion, as a string orchestra sneaks in under the melody. The harmony then shifts into a different direction, with a slightly different melody on top.

The piece is primarily performed rubato, without a strict sense of time and open to the interpretation of the performer.

One great component of Santaolalla’s soundtrack work is that he actively performs the music as opposed to conducting.

‘VANISHING GRACE (CHILDHOOD)’

One of the best examples of Santaolalla’s use of effects and electronics is in the cue “Vanishing Grace (Childhood)”.

The cue is short, but memorable. It opens with a wailing, washed out figure on presumably an electric guitar with some light cello backing. The sound gently washes over us like a pleasant memory before fading away into a strong guitar chord figure.

Santaolalla uses a beautiful tremolo effect on the guitar here, lending a wavy character to his sound.

This cue is from the original video game soundtrack and is also heard during the third episode of the series where we meet the characters Frank and Bill, and experience their development of their romance.

‘ALL GONE’

Another theme that is iterated in multiple variations across the game and series is “All Gone”.

The original version opens with what sounds like either an electric guitar played with a slide, or a violin altered in some way to produce a sort of broken and tangled timbre. The melody is akin to that of the main theme “The Last Of Us” and carries the same melancholic, minor key mood.

We hear many variations on this theme throughout the series at various times.

‘ALL GONE (PARTNERS)’

This variation, “All Gone (Partners)” originally appears in the second video game, but we also hear it in episode four of the series while Joel and Ellie are camping at night in the woods.

This variation opens with the same timbral character and theme, with more elaborate decoration from the electric guitar and effects.

‘ALL GONE (REUNION)’

We hear “All Gone (Reunion)” during episode four, however like “All Gone (Partners)”, the cue first appeared in part two of the video game.

The theme is performed this time exclusively on the electric guitar with a highly modulated and effected tone. The performance style is highly romantic and played with a loose time feel.

THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF HORROR

Santaolalla has taken an interesting and thoughtful approach to scoring the post-apocalyptic story of The Last Of Us.

While a more conventional approach to scoring horror might call for heavy sound design and extensive use of electronics, Santaolalla’s focus on the guitar and related instruments, as well as his use of space and minimalistic orchestration, allow the emotional depth of the characters to shine in a compelling and rewarding way.

All Images: HBO

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Writer | Edward Bond

Edward Bond is a multi-instrumentalist composer, performer, and writer currently bouncing between Trondheim and Berlin. He apparently has the eyes of the devil, enjoys leopard prints, and will read your tarot, but not your future.