You could occupy a whole afternoon arguing about whether the Netflix series “Stranger Things” marks the jump-the-shark moment for the ’80s fetishization that’s been building for the past half-decade, or whether it represents the trend’s creative peak. Does the show cleverly re-invent the ’80s film touchstones that directors Matt and Ross Duffer wear on their sleeve? Or is their riffing on Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, George Lucas, and John Carpenter just artistic cannibalism? Is it time to adjust the tracking-control in our minds and stop looking at the world through VCR-tinted glasses?

Surprisingly, these question are pretty much moot when it comes to the first installment of the “Stranger Things” soundtrack. (The forthcoming Volume Two contains entirely different material and more or less accompanies a different set of episodes.) Much to their credit, composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein opted for a far less overt nostalgia than the Duffers. This is all the more surprising—not to mention admirable—when you consider that in Dixon and Stein’s main gig as members of the Austin-based experimental synth quartet S U R V I V E, they’re not necessarily shy about their taste for referencing ’80s keyboard sounds, even if they do so with good taste.

If S U R V I V E don't quite blur the distinction between the cheese and the cream of that decade, it doesn’t so much matter. By and large, audiences no longer seek to distinguish between, say, the Beverly Hills Cop theme “Axel F” and Duran Duran bassist John Taylor’s serpentine fretwork. Under the heat lamp of kitschy nostalgia, what once sounded artificially sweetened or even objectionable has acquired a hazy glow we regard with fondness. But for the first 10 of *Volume One’*s thirty-plus tracks, you might get the impression that Dixon and Stein were aiming for the vibe of minimal early-’90s ambient techno instead. Even when they construct a keyboard riff ringing enough to serve as a top-line chorus hook (“Kids”), they still don’t oversaturate the music with retro tones.

Whatever you think of how Dixon and Stein’s scoring cues succeed within the framework of the show, the pair deserves credit for its efforts to avoid being intrusive. There are moments when S U R V I V E nods to John Carpenter’s scores, but the duo don’t make the same move here: The first 10 tracks don’t remotely suggest the suspense, horror, supernatural thrills, or even the basic human drama that the show’s storyline aims for. With a plot that involves a search for a missing child, another child who possesses telekinetic abilities, an ancient, monstrous being called a demogorgon, etc, “Stranger Things” hardly lacks for elements one would expect composers would drool at the chance to sink their teeth into.

Taken as a suite of music on its own merits, Volume One flows rather seamlessly—no small achievement. The canvas they paint on is remarkably spare and restrained: At any given point, it feels as if there are only a handful of sounds in the stereo field, and what at first comes off as a limited range slowly reveals itself as the opposite. It takes a while to notice because the first third of the album streams by with the unhurried gentleness of a tiny brook; it’s no insult whatsoever to say that this section of the music, with its pillowy synth pads, is perfectly suited for a scenic drive or even a rainy-day meditation on the porch. *Volume One *even borders on New Age at times, which initially leaves you scratching your head as to how Dixon, Stein, and the Duffers envisioned that this music would complement and support its target material.

But then Volume One takes a dramatic and agile heel turn. The first minute and a half of the album*'s* 11th track, “The Upside Down,” begins with much of the same unthreatening serenity that precedes it, as a feathery keyboard glimmers like rays of sunlight beaming down through the treetops. You almost expect Enya to appear (again, no insult) until the composers hit a 30-second stretch where, using little more than a handful of keyboard swells, they very gently begin to suggest a shift toward a darker mood.

When the piece hits the two-minute mark, listeners find themselves plunged into a nightmare before they’ve even had time to blink. Dixon and Stein pull off the change with uncanny grace. Perhaps the most deft and unsettling touch is their use of synths to mimic a vaguely inhuman howling. At its best, horror cinema taps into humankind’s primal terror and reminds us that, at the end of the day, we are still at the mercy of predatory forces that we don’t fully understand. Dixon and Stein’s arrangement on “The Upside Down” hits the bullseye on that sensation, and the fact that they wait so patiently to spring this shift on the audience shows that they put a great deal of thought into their decisions. Down the homestretch, Dixon and Stein allow themselves to indulge the shades of melodrama that listeners will immediately recognize as typical of TV music. Understandably, several of their choices in this section recall the music from the “X-Files,” but at this point, they have have earned the right to ham it up a bit.

Aesthetics aside, “Stranger Things” also reminds us of the pros and cons of modern television. Audiences get to enjoy more daring work in long-form format that the traditional network structure just couldn't allow for. On the other hand, we can never be sure these days whether a series is going to make it to another season. As it stands now, it’s up in the air whether “Stranger Things” will be back for a season two. But with not one but two scores to show for their involvement, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein have at least proven themselves to the world, whatever happens to their vehicle next.