Caroline Polachek has always existed at the fringes of pop — celestial, unconventional, and unafraid to explore the surreal. Now, she’s brought that vision to the video game world with her new single “On The Beach,” created for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, which releases June 26. The song is Polachek’s latest foray into cinematic sound design, and it couldn’t have found a more fitting home than Kojima’s haunting, post-apocalyptic landscape.
Longtime fans may find it surprising to learn that “On The Beach” actually predates much of Polachek’s solo discography. She first started the track nearly a decade ago with frequent collaborator Danny L Harle, but shelved it for being, in her own words, “too alien and industrial — almost too evil” for her 2019 album Pang. That early sketch found new life when Kojima — an avowed fan — approached her about contributing music to Death Stranding 2. Caroline Polachek revived the track, reworked it, and finished it with fresh eyes and a new purpose.
The result is a lush, unsettling track that blends Caroline Polachek’s operatic vocals with metallic, almost mechanical production. It doesn’t just accompany Kojima’s vision — it deepens it. There’s a cinematic weight to the song that feels like it was crafted not just for a game, but for a moment suspended in time. It echoes the emotional tension of the Death Stranding universe: isolation, connection, survival.
Polachek’s voice, as always, floats between human and otherworldly. In “On The Beach,” she turns minimalism into atmosphere, layering harmonies over textures that shift like sand underfoot. It’s both intimate and vast — much like the game it soundtracks.
