From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia

Cardiac Pulse: Soundtrack

For the video game itself, see Cardiac Pulse (video game).

Cardiac Pulse: Soundtrack is the original score to the eponymous video game, composed by  The Pulse Collective  and released in 2019. The album uses the external pacemaker's diode-pulse as a rhythmic leitmotif, layering it against sparse piano, field recordings of desert wind, and a recurring high-pitched sine wave attributed in liner notes to "the frequency the spine refuses."

Composition and themes

The soundtrack's structure mirrors the game's six-chapter narrative: each chapter receives two tracks — one for Leif (minor key, arrhythmic), one for Katita (red-ambient, cyclical). The most distinctive element is the use of cardiac arrhythmia as both motif and percussion: irregular heartbeats become gradually more regular as the player progresses, then shatter into chaos at the game's split endings.

Track 6, "Radio Igloo (Correction)," uses a technique of audio feedback to simulate the frequency-doubling described in the novel's Half Two, Chapter 4. The liner notes credit  ██  for the "impossible harmonics" — [citation needed]

Critical response

The soundtrack has achieved cult status beyond the game itself. The Quieting (a meditation-audio collective) sampled track 3 ("Pressure") in a 2021 ambient-music installation. The album's final track, "Cycle (Unresolved)," loops perfectly when played at 33 RPM on vinyl, creating a 4-hour infinite meditation.

Track listing

See also

• Cardiac Pulse (video game)
• Music and adaptations
• The Pulse Recorder (Audio Serial)
• Red motifs