Natalie Holt on the ‘Loki’ Season 2 Music: ‘It Was Like Coming Back To See an Old Friend’

With all six episodes of Marvel series Loki season two out now via Disney+ Hotstar, there’s plenty for fans to dive into and theorize. The show – starring Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and more – gives us all the twists and turns one might expect from its time-warping premise and there’s just as much storytelling found within the sonic choices for the music composed by Natalie Holt.

The British violinist-composer – who also worked on the score for Loki season one – gets into all kinds of experiments to highlight the suspenseful, timeline-hopping storyline. She likened it to “seeing an old friend” when she was brought on board for the second outing of Loki. Holt says over a video call, “I so enjoyed working on season one, developing all the characters and going on that journey. So to come back to it and then be able to take it further and try out some new things was a dream come true.”

While the series explores different time periods, it gave Holt a chance to use that while also taking things in a darker vein. At several points, there are variations on the “Loki Green Theme” from season one, especially on the fanfare horn section-driven “Chicago 1892.” She says about the piece, “It just sort of establishing that something is different and darker.” It connects us to the character Victor Timely, who is played by Jonathan Majors. “He [Timely] has got this really humble beginning in the slums of Chicago and it felt fitting to do something small for him,” Holt adds.

Another groovy surprise during the series is “Zaniac,” which Holt describes as a “disco version” of the Loki theme. “That was just really fun. It’s like theremin disco. Who would have known how well that works?” she says with a laugh. The theremin remained one among several key elements for Holt to create the score for Loki season two, alongside everything from a gong speaker (“which creates all these weird resonances,” she says) and a radiation counter to rhythmic use.

Holt gets to bring in a demo version of a track called “The Architect.” It was something she composed before she even got the job making music for Loki. “That was all the rough synth sounds. I feel like that was my initial vision for how it [the theme] should sound, so I kind of wanted people to hear it,” Holt says.

Listen to the soundtrack to ‘Loki: Season 2’ below. Watch the series on Disney+ Hotstar.