What on Earth?!

Earth is a new 5-part series on the BBC in which presenter Chris Packham details five historical events that shaped and changed the face of our planet. And when I say historical events, I mean things like the asteroid impact that destroyed the dinosaurs and apocalyptic volcanic eruptions that killed all life on earth – almost.

It’s big stuff. It’s epic and awe-inspiring. It’s also frightening, as much of it resembles the climate emergency we are facing today. You may be tempted to think ‘ah yes, but life found a way back after each disaster’, and you’d be right, but it wasn’t the life from before. The planet will be fine, mankind maybe not so much.

Packham does a great job narrating and illustrating the stories with archaeological finds and carefully selected site visits. As The Guardian rightfully pointed out, this kind of show would once upon a time have relied on a David Attenborough, but Packham is confidently rising to the challenge. I find him a likeable and knowledgeable chap who manages to engage at least me with his stories.

The aforementioned Guardian article also suggests that, with slashed budgets and increased public scrutiny, the BBC had to tread a fine line between spending enough money on the show to give it the gravitas it requires, but not spend too much so it doesn’t seem like wasted tax-payers’ money. Hence the carefully selected site visits.

One of the elements that makes Earth feel as big and epic as it does it the musical score by Paul Saunderson. He’s not quite a household name, but has a wide range of credits to his name; from Prizefighter (the Russel Crowe movie) and Memorybox: Echoes of 9/11 to Life (on the BBC) and Trying (on Apple TV). Look back a little further and his CV reveals numerous ‘additional music’ credits on Ilan Eshkeri scores, such as Swallows and Amazons, 47 Ronin, Austenland, the game Sims 4 and many more.

Silva Screen Records has now released the score to Earth and it contains just over 2 hours of music. The score is a perfect example of a modern hybrid sound between orchestra and electronics. Unfortunately I have no information about the production of this soundtrack, but I would not be surprised if it was largely if not entirely sampled. It may have real orchestra, I don’t know and it’s almost irrelevant. Sampling technology has come so far that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to spot. Also, this hybrid sound is such a big thing in its own right these days, that it is perfectly legit to strive for this ambiguous sound. Anyway, the result is a score with top notch production values; and it sounds super slick.

There is, for me, a downside to the score though. It sounds like library music. Great stock music, but stock nonetheless. Everything you might expect from a score like this is here, with no surprises. When it’s big it has that brassy sound, thumping arpeggios and often slightly distorted noises to add some crunch. When it’s quiet, we hear sparse piano notes with big reverbs, soft strings and occasionally some vocals. In both cases it has long, slowly crescendoing chords which feel dramatic and seem to emphasis the incredibly vast amounts of time that passes. We are talking about events that happened hundreds of millions of years ago and that itself lasted for many decades, centuries or even millennia. However, at both ends of the spectrum, the music sounds anonymous. It sounds like stuff I’ve heard in many other documentaries (funnily enough, especially on Youtube). The use of the music in the show itself becomes very predictable very quickly. It builds and builds, becomes louder and more bombastic as we approach one of the many cataclysmic events… followed immediately by those quiet piano moments, to create a huge contrast between event and aftermath. And frankly, while watching the show I found much of the music to be overbearing. I appreciate that the show is, quite literally, about the biggest and most disastrous events our planet has ever (or yet) seen, but still… the constant power chords, thumping rhythms and this thick hybrid sound do get tiring. This music is closer to trailer music than it is to your ‘classic’ George Fenton documentary scores.

The score’s production values are a saving grace, but… there is another! Its main theme works hard to provide a narrative, thereby ensuring the score is more than a big blanket of sound. The theme oozes grandeur and is introduced in the opening song “Never Close Enough”. The song was co-written and sung by upcoming talent Sipho. I must say, the song feels as overproduced (i.e. overpowering) as much of the score. It’s very in-your-face to the point of being shouty.

The main theme recurs numerous times throughout the score, really helping to bring everything together. Or rather, it serves as a guiding light through the dense fog of this hybrid soundscape. It’s a fairly homogenous sound, so it’s not like the theme has to pull all kinds of different styles together, au contraire. Instead it adds focus to the music. It forms the basis for both the big and the intimate material. It is a very malleable tune.

With 2 hours of music, there are of course several very exciting cues. Especially when you’re in the mood for this kind of almost trailer-like epicness, there’s plenty to enjoy. For me, two hours is kicking the arse out of it, and it all starts to sound the same as it goes on. It’s good, it’s very well done, I enjoyed most of it, but there may just be a bit too much of it.

Article by Pete Simons (c) 2023 Synchrotones