“Pain is the Heart of Love” by Alex G and Paul Buchanan is the heart-wrenching lead single for “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
If you feel like the evocative soundtrack of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma added so much to the movie, well, same. And if you know ball, your ears perked up when you heard the earthy, twinkly strings of Alex G reverberating throughout the film.
Alex G’s lead single for Camp Miasma, “Pain is the Heart of Love,” drops today, Aug. 14. The song features vocals from Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile and lyrics written by our IRL Camp Miasma director, Jane Schoenbrun. Listen to this heart-wrenching song, fresh off finishing Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and you’ll feel a little lump form in your throat.
Schoenbrun and Alex G have always been in lockstep creatively. Alex G conjured up doomy tunes full of evil nostalgia for Schoenbrun’s 2022 film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. (The main theme from that film, which I had to watch through my fingers, still makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.)
Similarly, Alex G strung together campy, ’90s horror synths to bring The Pink Opaque to life for Schoenbrun’s 2024 instant classic, I Saw the TV Glow. Throughout that soundtrack, there’s an uneasy beauty that you can’t seem to turn away from.
This third collaboration for Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma soundtrack features a song from dreamy harmony-weaver Okay Kaya, a chipper track from R.E.M., the sparkly Sally Shapiro needle drop that happens right before everything goes to hell, and the euphoric “I Will Love Always Forever” by Donna Lewis (IYKYK).
Listen to the lead single and check out the full Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma tracklist below.
![For the ‘Camp Miasma’ Soundtrack, Alex G Toys With Our Heartstrings [Video]](https://www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Pain-Is-The-Heart-of-Love-Single-Cover-copy-2-1200x675.jpg)
