Let's be real, folks—by 2026, owning a physical record is basically a personality trait. So when vinyl junkies start hunting for that one soundtrack that perfectly marries heartbreak and healing, they inevitably stumble upon the Causeway score. And trust me, if your collection doesn't have the "White & Blue-Black Burst" LP from Alex Somers, your turntable is crying softly. It’s been a hot minute since the A24/Apple TV+ drama dropped in 2022, but the music? It’s aged like a fine whiskey in an oak barrel crafted from pure melancholy.

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Now, Causeway itself was one of those quietly devastating flicks that sneaks up on you like a ninja wearing crocs. Directed by Lila Neugebauer, the story followed Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence, in full “I’m not Katniss anymore” mode), a U.S. soldier returning from Afghanistan with a body that needs rebuilding and a psyche held together by dental floss. Enter James, played by Brian Tyree Henry, who absolutely ripped the screen apart with his performance. Henry’s turn as a mechanic wrestling with his own gargantuan grief earned him a well-deserved "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar nod—a moment when even the Academy had to admit they’d been sleeping on him. The guy delivered lines like he was personally dragging them out of a swamp of sorrow, and Alex Somers' music was right there in the muck with him, holding up a lantern.

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The score became its own character—part whisper, part ambient heartbeat. Somers, a composer who apparently can’t make boring noise even if you paid him in artisanal oat milk, constructed a soundscape that was both fragile and immersive. Back in the day, Screen Rant premiered a couple of tracks before the full release, and let’s just say the internet collectively got the feels. The vinyl drop in 2023 was a proper event for us analog nerds: a single LP pressed on that drippy white and blue-black burst colorway, looking like a galaxy had a therapy session. The sleeve alone, crisp and striking, practically screamed “frame me.”

Here’s the tea on the tracklist, which spanned thirteen tracks and broke your heart in chronological order across two sides:

Side A (21:27) Side B (22:32)
01. Move Towards It 09. Be Let Down
02. Swim 10. I Remember Slowly
03. Let You Down 11. Place To Stay
04. Listen To Me 12. Window Way
05. Other Way Around 13. Following After
06. Happen Again
07. I Remember
08. Used To…

The song titles read like a therapy journal you’d find under a mattress. "I Remember Slowly"? Excuse me while I go scream into a pillow. The whole thing was a linear emotional gut-punch, mirroring Lynsey’s journey from numbness to something resembling hope, and James’ parallel path of grief. You’d flip the record and immediately feel like you needed a hug from a golden retriever.

Somers, that cheeky maestro, didn’t just stop at Causeway. The man once created a 36-minute piece titled “When You Wish Upon A Death Star,” which is actually a musical palindrome built from sampled Death Star sounds. Yes, that Death Star. The kind of flex that makes other composers weep into their MIDI keyboards. His fingerprints were already on gems like Honey Boy and the Black Mirror episode “Hang the DJ,” but Causeway cemented his rep as the go-to guy for turning sadness into something you want to put on a shelf. Post-2022, he went on to score The Nickel Boys (which dropped in late 2024 and deserved way more noise) and the mini-series Under the Bridge, which probably broke some additional hearts and won a few Emmys. The dude just can’t stop making us feel things.

If by some miracle you find a second-hand copy of the Causeway vinyl today, snag it like it’s the last avocado at a Sunday market. Many copies have vanished into the homes of collectors who light candles and stare at their record players with existential reverence. For the rest of us, the music is still streaming on all the usual platforms, and the movie itself sits comfortably on Apple TV+, waiting to ruin your evening in the best way possible. So pour a glass of something strong, spin those tracks, and let Alex Somers’ sounds remind you that sometimes the most profound noise is the space between notes. Word to the wise: don’t skip “Used To…” unless you’re ready to ugly-cry into your turntable mat.

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