Allowed to be Happy This is definitely my favorite piece from The Last of Us Part II soundtrack. The chorus section has a slight pop sensibility to it. I love how Santaolalla creates long passages. Each song feels like a journey. This piece was also […]

Grieving Grieving is some very creative (yet minimalist) guitar work by Gustavo Santaolalla, from The Last of Us Part II soundtrack. It fits well with the ‘All Gone’ themes from both game soundtracks. I expanded well beyond the original motif to create, Grieving (a variation). […]

Reclaimed Memories Reclaimed Memories is pretty little guitar piece from The Last of Us Part II soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla. The signature of this score is Santaolalla’s use of a 6 string guitar banjo. It was very easy to transfer this song to guitar — […]

Longing This arrangement combines both Longing and Longing (Redemptions) from The Last of Us Part II soundtrack. The latter of which is actually played on a Ronroco — a tiny, 5 string Andean guitar — that Gustavo Santaolalla employs on many of his songs. Both […]

Unbroken It took me all of two seconds to realize that Unbroken occupies the same space (and delivers the same poignancy) as The Choice from the first game. A great piece of music from maestro, Gustavo Santaolalla. This song was also used to great effect […]

The Choice Although I haven’t played The Last of Us game, I think the HBO series is amazing. The Choice has long been one of my favorite pieces of music by composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. He truly has a knack for the “major lift” which is […]

On the Nature of Daylight The post-classical genre is a (popular but controversial) genre of contemporary music that combines classical and electronic music. Usually, the music is slower and emotive. The top composers of this genre have found a home for their music in modern […]

The Last of Us (Astray) Astray is basically an iteration of the main title theme played on a Fender guitar bass: a six string bass that looks and feels more like a baritone guitar. Gustavo Santaolalla employed the guitar bass on other selections from The […]

All Gone (No Escape) All Gone (No Escape) is originally an orchestral piece. It’s arguably the most achingly beautiful selection from The Last of Us soundtrack. It was fun to imagine what Gustavo Santaolalla might’ve played on guitar. The piece turned out to be a […]

The Last of Us (Variation) The depth and creativity of Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Last of Us soundtrack never ceases to amaze me, even years later. Two of my favorite themes are: the title theme, and The Choice. Inspired by Gustavo Santaolalla’s recent E3 performance, where […]

The Last of Us II To introduce The Last of Us Part II at the 2018 E3 gaming convention, Gustavo Santaolalla performed the new central theme from soundtrack. It was a great performance. At the time, the piece was called The Last of Us (Cycles). […]

[Updated 6/19/2020] This piece was revealed a few years ago for a potential Last of Us Part II menu screen. We now know it’s titled, Beyond Desolation. At the time of this writing, I’m pouring over the brand new Last of Us Part II score […]