Milan Records today releases The Wheel of Time: The First Turn, an album of principal themes composed by Lorne Balfe for the upcoming Amazon Original Series. Available everywhere now, The Wheel of Time: The First Turn (Amazon Original Series Soundtrack) is a largely conceptual album that includes key themes written by Balfe for the characters, settings and ideas central to The Wheel of Time universe. The 14-track collection provides a foundation for the fantasy series' rich soundscape, with much of Balfe's final score cues developing as variations of these initial themes. The Wheel of Time: The First Turn album will be followed by three additional soundtrack albums to be released as separate volumes alongside the show's first season, with the Volume 1 album set for release on Friday, November 19 in tandem with the show's debut on Prime Video that same day in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Of the album, composer Lorne Balfe says, "The universe of The Wheel of Time is truly unique. Inspired by oral traditions in storytelling, each theme's voices tell the story of the character, place, or idea in Old Tongue, a language unique to the universe of The Wheel of Time. The score to this series is a re-imagination of fantasy music, doing away with the genre's reliance on large, traditional orchestras in favor of more modern colors while retaining the strong melodies and bold harmonies that fans can expect from such an epic. It was my honor collaborating with showrunner Rafe Judkins along with our 14th Street Music team and musicians to share The First Turn album with you."
The album was initially introduced with the release of three vocal tracks, each of which features lyrics written and performed in Old Tongue, a language specific to the world of The Wheel of Time. Balfe has enlisted a group of talented vocalists to perform on the album, including singer-songwriter and frontman of chart-topping Britpop group Go West Peter Cox, who lends his vocals to five tracks on the album including single Mashiara (Lost Love). Pop/folk singer-songwriter Abby Lyons provides vocals to nine of the tracks, including album lead single Al'Naito (The Flame) which she performs alongside Aisyah Zulkarnain, and "Caisen'shar (Old Blood)" performed with folk-Americana quartet Our Native Daughters.
In addition to the album's digital release, The First Turn soundtrack will also be made available in both spatial audio and vinyl formats. Available later this month, the spatial audio version of The First Turn album gives listeners a completely immersive listening experience with 360-degree sound and enhanced clarity. Meanwhile the album's vinyl edition is set to arrive in 2022. The score is produced by 14th Street Music, owned by Hans Zimmer, Steve Kofsky and Lorne Balfe.