The Truth and the Light: Music from the X-Files

{{Infobox album

| name = The Truth and the Light: Music from the X-Files

| type = Soundtrack

| artist = Mark Snow

| cover = Truthandlight.jpg

| alt =

| released = October 8, 1996

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = {{hlist|Soundtrack|ambient music}}

| length = 45:50

| label = Warner Bros.
46448

| producer = Mark Snow
Jeff Charbonneau

| chronology = The X-Files

| prev_title = Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files

| prev_year = 1996

| next_title = The X-Files: Original Motion Picture Score

| next_year = 1998

}}

The Truth and the Light: Music from the X-Files is a 1996 album by Mark Snow. The album is composed of excerpts of instrumental music scores from the first three seasons of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, on which Snow was the resident composer. These tracks are linked together with portions of dialogue from the series.

Released on October 8, 1996, the album received mixed reviews from critics. It reached a peak position of number forty-two in the UK albums chart, and spent four weeks in France's album charts, peaking at number nine.

Track listing

{{Track listing

| total_length = 45:50

| all_writing = Chris Carter and Mark Snow

| title1 = Introitus: Praeceps Transito Spatium

| note1 = "Død Kalm"

| length1 = 1:51

| title2 = Materia Primoris: The X-Files Theme (Main Title)

| length2 = 3:22

| title3 = Raptus

| length3 = 3:16

| note3= "Pilot"

| title4 = Adflatus

| length4 = 4:00

| note4= "One Breath"

| title5 = Deverbero

| length5 = 1:28

| note5= "F. Emasculata"

| title6 = Cantus Excio

| note6 = "The Calusari"

| length6 = 4:42

| title7 = Mercutura

| note7 = "Gender Bender"

| length7 = 3:23

| title8 = Lamenta

| note8 = "Roland"

| length8 = 1:48

| title9 = Insequi

| note9 = "Oubliette"

| length9 = 1:37

| title10 = Otium

| note10 = "Conduit"

| length10 = 1:43

| title11 = Dubitatio

| note11 = "Ghost in the Machine"

| length11 = 2:49

| title12 = Iter

| note12 = "Nisei"

| length12 = 1:20

| title13 = Progigno De Axis

| note13 = "Nisei"

| length13 = 1:35

| title14 = Carmen Amatorium Ex Arcanum

| note14 = "3"

| length14 = 2:38

| title15 = Facetus Malum

| note15 = "Humbug"

| length15 = 2:42

| title16 = Memoria

| note16 = "Shapes"

| length16 = 2:02

| title17 = Mitus Lumen

| note17 = "Soft Light"

| length17 = 2:41

| title18 = Fides Fragilis

| note18 = "The Erlenmeyer Flask"

| length18 = 1:35

| title19 = Exoptare Ex Veritas

| note19 = "Oubliette"

| length19 = 1:30

| title20 = Kyrie

| note20 = "Grotesque"

| length20 = 1:43

| title21 = The X-Files Theme (Flexifinger Terrestrial mix)

| note21 = UK release only

| length21 = 4:23

}}

Personnel

{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|

}}

Release

The Truth and the Light: Music from The X-Files was released by Warner Bros. Records on October 8, 1996,{{cite magazine |title=Nothin' Like the Reel Thing |first=David |last=Sprague |magazine=Billboard |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAcEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22the+truth+and+the+light%22+x-files&pg=PA105 |accessdate=January 3, 2012 |issue=34 |volume=108 |issn=0006-2510|date=August 24, 1996 }} on both compact disc and compact cassette formats. It spent two weeks in the UK Albums Chart, reaching a peak position of number forty-two on September 12, 1996.{{cite web |url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/mark%20snow/|title=MARK SNOW {{!}} Artist {{!}} Official Charts |publisher=Official Charts Company |accessdate=January 3, 2012}} The album spent four weeks in France's Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique album chart between September 14 and October 26, 1996. It entered the chart at number forty-two, before peaking at number nine, and finally dropping to number forty-three before leaving the chart entirely.{{cite web |url=http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Mark+Snow&titel=The+Truth+And+The+Light&cat=a |title=lescharts.com - Mark Snow - The Truth And The Light |accessdate=January 3, 2012}} A more comprehensive four-disc collection of Snow's compositions for The X-Files was released by record company La-La Land Records in May 2011, containing several of the cues found on The Truth and the Light.{{cite web |url=http://www.lalalandrecords.com/XFiles.html |title=LA LA LAND RECORDS, X FILES, Vol-1 |publisher=La-La Land Records |accessdate=January 3, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231212328/http://www.lalalandrecords.com/XFiles.html |archivedate=December 31, 2011 }}{{Cite web |url=http://filmmusicreporter.com/2011/05/11/the-x-files-soundtrack-set-release/ |title='The X-Files' Soundtrack Set released |publisher=Film Music Reporter |date=May 11, 2011 |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}

Reception

The Truth and the Light has received mixed reviews from critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album four stars out of five, calling it "evocative and eerie", noting that "it holds up surprisingly well when isolated from the visuals" of the series.{{Cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/truth--light-music-from-the-x-files-r241698 |title=Truth & Light: Music from 'The X-Files' - Mark Snow |publisher=AllRovi |first=Stephen Thomas |last=Erlewine |accessdate=January 3, 2012}} Filmtracks.com's Christian Clemmensen rated it two stars out of five, calling it a "basically adequate souvenir of sorts". Clemmensen lamented that the inclusion of dialogue from the series hindered the album as a whole, explaining that "inconsistent incorporation of dialogue hinders the album's continuity". He also felt that the cues included on the album did not reflect Snow's best work on the series, which in his view would come from the later seasons, but that the album instead reflected "Snow's darker, ambient, and atonal music", though admitting that there was still an audience for "those creepy sounds".{{cite web |url=http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/xfiles_tv.html |title=Filmtracks: The X-Files (Mark Snow) |date=June 15, 2011 |first=Christian |last=Clemmensen |publisher=Filmtracks.com |accessdate=January 3, 2012}}

Extended track listing with additional details

class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"

!Track !! Title !! Title Translation !! Length !! Music !! Quote(s)

1Introitus: Praeceps Transito SpatiumThe Beginning: Quickly Across the Void1:512x19 Død KalmFox Mulder in 3x13 Syzygy)
2Materia Primoris: The X-Files Theme (Main Title)Main Title3:22
3RaptusAbduction3:161x79 Pilot2x05 Duane Barry
4AdflatusBreathing upon3:362x08 One Breath (23")3x01 The Blessing Way, 3x16 Apocrypha (Cigarette Smoking Man: "You can trust all of us.")
5DeverberoThrashing1:282x22 F. Emasculata (15")2x10 Red Museum (35")
6Cantus ExcioRousing Song4:422x21 The Calusari (15",21",23")
7MercuturaMerchandise3:231x13 Gender Bender (38"), 2x22 F. Emasculata (27")2x25 Anasazi (21", Bill Mulder)
8LamentaLamentation1:481x22 Roland2x06 Ascension, 2x22 F. Emasculata (26", Fox Mulder - "Why weren't we told the truth?", Cigarette Smoking Man - "The truth would have caused panic. Panic would have cost lives.", Cigarette Smoking Man - "What's the truth, Agent Mulder?")
9InsequiPursuit1:373x08 Oubliette
10OtiumPeace1:431x03 Conduit
11DubitatioUncertainty2:492x22 F. Emasculata (14",35"), 1x07 Ghost in the Machine1x01 Deep Throat (Deep Throat, Fox Mulder)
12IterJourney1:203x09 Nisei
13Progigno De AxisBring Forth from the sky/ the Axis1:353x09 Nisei2x25 Anasazi (40", Dana Scully - "Mulder, in these files, I found references to experiments that were conducted here in the US by Axis-power scientists who were given amnesty after the war.")
14Carmen Amatorium Ex ArcanumLove Song from secrets2:382x07 32x22 F. Emasculata (42", Walter Skinner - "I'm saying this as a friend. Watch your back. This is just the beginning.")
15Facetus MalumGraceful Evil2:422x20 Humbug (12",20")
16MemoriaRemembering2:021x18 Shapes3x01 The Blessing Way
17Mitis LumenSoft Light2:412x23 Soft Light (0",9",27",34")2x06 Ascension (Dana Scully - "Mulder!), 2x25 Anasazi (42", Cigarette Smoking Man - "Burn it!")
18Fides FragilisFragile Faith1:351x23 The Erlenmeyer Flask2x16 Colony (0", Fox Mulder)
19Exoptare Ex VeritasDesire for the Truth1:303x08 Oubliette3x02 Paper Clip
20KyrieO Lord2:573x14 Grotesque (1:42 - 2:57)"Apology is policy" derived from episode 3x10 731
21The X-Files Theme (Flexifinger Terrestrial mix) (UK release only)4:23

Footnotes