Pick of the film pops? It’s a punk porcupine!
WITH the film awards season in full swing, a string of new soundtracks is hitting the shelves. From big scores to albums of classic hits, ADRIAN THRILLS picks the best.
SING (Republic)
The soundtrack to Sing, a forthcoming cartoon film about animals in a singing contest, is an entertaining affair packed with pop covers and strong original material. Scarlett Johansson (who voices a punk-rock porcupine) delivers a perfectly acceptable indie-rock pastiche on I Don’t Wanna.
The exuberant Faith, written by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and sung by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande, should be in the frame for Oscars recognition, although Reese Witherspoon’s novelty take on Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off falls disappointingly flat.
LA LA LAND (Interscope)
VIcTORIOuS at the Golden Globes last Sunday, La La Land comes with a soundtrack in thrall to the golden age of the hollywood musical. This theatrical tour de force is dominated by romantic jazz plus song-and-dance pieces. complete with an orchestra and choir, Another Day Of Sun sets the singalong tone, while the sweetvoiced emma Stone and co-star Ryan Gosling combine well on the quietly catchy city Of Stars.
The best performance, though, comes from John Legend on punchy soul number Start A Fire.
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (Walt Disney)
NO bAD feeling about this one. hastily put together by composer Michael Giacchino, who replaced original choice Alexandre Desplat at short notice, the Rogue One soundtrack sticks to the tradition of exhilarating Star Wars scores while adding darker, more ominous touches.
Giacchino says original Star Wars composer John Williams was his ‘first music teacher’, and he incorporates fleeting hints of familiar melodies in his thunderous orchestrations, with a piece called Krennic’s Aspirations echoing Williams’s daunting Imperial March.
JACKIE (Warner Music)
FILM scores offer an opportunity for pop’s more inventive thinkers to push experimental sounds into the mainstream, and the music from the forthcoming Jackie Kennedy biopic starring Natalie Portman is a case in point.
Surrey musician Mica Levi made her name with Noughties indie band Micachu And The Shapes, but she has found her niche as a film composer leaning towards classical music. This album, out today on cD and vinyl, reiterates her indie ethos by blending distorted strings, piano and woodwind.
HELL OR HIGH WATER (Milan)
LIKe Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, Nick cave has made a successful move from alternative rock into the soundtrack business.
The Australian’s instrumental score for the Western crime thriller hell Or high Water — recorded on guitar, piano and chamber strings with bad Seeds bandmate Warren ellis — is dark and brooding but never overbearing.
A selection of twanging country numbers by Waylon Jennings, Townes Van Zandt and chris Stapleton emphasise the West Texan setting.
ARRIVAL (Deutsche Grammophon)
JOhANN Johannsson is another who uses soundtracks to try fresh ideas. The Icelandic composer’s latest work, for sci-fi film Arrival, involves using the hums and warbles of the human voice as a wordless instrument.
With the addition of piano loops and ghostly sounds that echo David bowie’s Low, the outcome is suitably otherworldly. Away from the screen, these pieces don’t work quite as well as Johannsson’s score to the Stephen hawking biopic The Theory Of everything, but his contributions to the forthcoming blade Runner 2049 will be worth hearing.
SING STREET (Decca)
The music for this coming-of-age film set in eighties Dublin is a classic example of the soundtrack album as period playlist. With Duran Duran’s Rio, The Jam’s Town called Malice and The cure’s Inbetween Days all here, it frames its chosen era perfectly. A clutch of new songs also pay affectionate homage to the days of shoulder pads and Walkmans: songwriter Gary clark, once of Scottish trio Danny Wilson, is being tipped for a ‘ best song’ nod at the Oscars with the energetic Drive It Like You Stole It.