The official soundtrack for Stranger Things season 3 has been released, ahead of the show's return to Netflix on July 4. Set in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana in the 1980s, Stranger Things blends sci-fi and horror elements with a big dose of nostalgia as a group of plucky kids try to solve the mystery of the strange phenomena affecting their town. At the center of that mystery is Eleven, a young girl with extraordinary powers and a connection to an alternate dimension called the Upside Down.

Since its inception, Stranger Things has been scored by composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, who make up one half of the synth band SURVIVE. The show's pulsing, '80s-inspired theme song sets the tone for each episode, and Dixon and Stein's music has been key to building the show's distinctive atmosphere. Now, fans can get in the mood for Stranger Things' return by listening to 40 songs from the new season's soundtrack.

Related: Stranger Things 3: Listen to the Official Starcourt Mall Theme

Released digitally on July 28 by Lakeshore Records and Invada Records, with CD and vinyl versions to follow, Stranger Things season 3's soundtrack features "pop sensibilities and melancholic undertones of 50’s doo-wop, that go beyond the 80’s & 90’s R&B inflections of past seasons," according to the official press release. The soundtrack is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music, and can be purchased from Amazon Music or iTunes. Check out the album artwork and a full track list below.

Stranger Things 3 Soundtrack Cover
  • 01. Boys and Girls
  • 02. I Like Presents Too
  • 03. Starcourt
  • 04. Blank Makes You Crazy
  • 05. I Need You to Trust Me
  • 06. You're a Fighter
  • 07. The Ceiling Is Beautiful
  • 08. The First I love You
  • 09. Rats
  • 10. What Did You Do To Him?
  • 11. Find the Source
  • 12. The Silver Cat Feeds
  • 13. Heather's
  • 14. William
  • 15. Destroying the Castle
  • 16. In the Void
  • 17. Tammy
  • 18. Mirkwood
  • 19. Portal Drill
  • 20. Happy Screams
  • 21. Ruins
  • 22. It's Just Ice
  • 23. The Door Is Opening
  • 24. Planck's Constant
  • 25. She's Gone Home
  • 26. Seven Feet
  • 27. The Week Is Long
  • 28. Sauna Test
  • 29. Six Facts
  • 30. The Trees Are Moving
  • 31. On Their Tracks
  • 32. Not Chinese Food
  • 33. Blueprints
  • 34. Land Deeds
  • 35. Not Kids Anymore
  • 36. Code Red
  • 37. Feel Safe
  • 38. He’s Here
  • 39. Scoops Troop
  • 40. We Don't Understand Each Other
  • 41. Aftermath

While some of the track titles are fairly generic, like "Starcourt" (which refers to Hawkins' newly-opened Starcourt Mall) and "Not Kids Anymore" (one of the big themes of season 3 is the gang leaving childhood behind), others are more mysterious and intriguing. For example, the spine-tingling tune "The Silver Cat Feeds" links to coded messages that we've seen in the teasers for Stranger Things season 3, while "Planck's Constant" conveys a kind of frantic, rising panic and is named after a theory in quantum physics about the relationship between the amount of energy in a photon and the frequency of its electromagnetic wave. We won't really understand the significance of these tracks until the show itself reveals it.

Stranger Things is one of Netflix's most highly-acclaimed shows, and has a massive fan following. Inspired by Stephen King novels and 1980s adventure movies like E.T. and The Goonies, the series has created a vibe that's all its own, while at the same time being one big homage. The music is reflective of that, and we can't wait to hear these tunes in context.

More: Stranger Things Season 3 May Have A Russian Threat (But It's Not Chernobyl)