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The first half of Star Trek: Discovery’s launch season gets a soundtrack release from regular composer Jeff Russo.

It’s been a long road, getting from there to here, but before you fear me going all Russell Watson and singing ‘Where My Heart Will Take Me’, as used in Star Trek’s last TV outing, Enterprise, it’s worth reflecting that we have come a long way. In the 12 years that no new Star Trek was on TV, the way that series were created has changed substantially, with long-form story arc and fewer episodes being the new norm. When 26 stand-alone episodes were being pumped out every year it was ok for each instalment to have a different sound, but now that people are watching a season-length story in multi-episode streaming binges, it makes sense to have more uniformity.

Hurrah for Jeff Russo, who continues his great work on Fargo and Legion by writing the main theme and underscore for all the episodes. His main theme begins as an almost-refrain of Alexander Courage’s classic Star Trek intro before launching into its own theme that’s closer to Jerry Goldsmith’s Voyager, before finishing with a direct reference to Courage. Both the aired and an extended version of the theme are included here.

Before you fear that you’re just going to get the main theme bookending some ‘album cues’ rest assured that Russo has structured the album to include the action highlights – the epic, 8-minute I’ll Go particularly pumps things up. And because Russo is writing all the music he can bring in the Discovery theme (The Day is Saved, Undetermined) where appropriate or the subtle motifs and themes he has written for the characters. When everything is happening on the screen it can be difficult to strip out the anthems, but heard in isolation it’s easier to pick out the aural glue that’s holding it together.

Torchbearer is a grand, melodramatic Klingon opus following T’Kuvma, more Shore’s Lord of the Rings than the regular Goldsmith percussion-heavy Klingon-fest that we’ve traditionally been served. Persistence is a bonkers version of the theme as played on an 80s arcade game, or the alarm on a Casio digital watch.

Even Harry Mudd gets his own theme from Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad, and the coda cue to that episode – Stella – has a lovely old school original series vibe culminating in the classic fanfare.

Verdict: Undeniably Star Trek, but instead of holding nostalgically onto the past, Jeff Russo’s scores take the franchise to a new level – an exciting, rousing hour. When’s the release Stardate for Chapter 2? 9/10

Nick Joy

Read our interview with Jeff Russo here