Photo by Jose Losada on Unsplash

Severance

Severance is a psychological thriller series on Apple TV+ about employees at Lumon Industries who have undergone a “severance” procedure, surgically dividing their memories between their work and personal lives. This creates two distinct versions of themselves: one for work (the “innie”) and one for their personal life (the “outie”).

The show follows Mark Scout, a Lumon employee, as he and his colleagues begin to question the nature of their work and the company’s true intentions. The series explores themes of identity, corporate control, and the blurred lines between work and personal life.

I just started the series, and it’s delightfully weird in Stanley Kubrick sort of way; minimalism, a blend of old and new technology, long walking scenes. The style and cinematography has got to be a nod to Kubrick.

The music from composer, Theodore Shapiro, perfectly complements the show’s eerie and unsettling atmosphere. The music makes use of this recurring central theme that is both catchy and slightly disturbing.

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How to play Severance | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this piece is beautifully written across a single page. I recommend this arrangement for intermediate guitar players and up. Enjoy! The guitar tab is available below:

My song structure looks like this in accordance with the guitar tab:

Verse, Chorus

Verse, Chorus

Verse, End

[guitar tab] **Severance | fingerstyle guitar

This song is tuned in an Open C Minor 9 tuning: C G C D# G D.

If you don’t want to tune that low, you can play it in a slightly higher tonality: D A D F A E. I’ve tried this tuning and it sounds great!