Snap Shots: Of journeys, rivers, foes, and grief.

A series of brief soundtrack reviews. This time a quick look at: Il Vaggio Leggendario (Fabrizio Mancinelli), Rivers of Croatia (Dalibor Grubačević), Foe (Park Jiha, Oliver Coates & Agnes Obel), Good Grief (Rob Simonsen), and Grounded (Bill Wandel).

Il Vaggio Leggendario (Fabrizio Mancinelli). Lovely adventure score, with nods to various genres (adventure of course, but also horror, sea shanties). Mancinelli successfully combines orchestral and sea shanty-type arrangements to create a lush and playful score, with a strong emotional core. It’s not all bombast; au contraire, it cleverly plays with all the genres’ tropes without going overboard. Occasionally there are slight hints of Pirates of the Caribbean, especially in the sea shanty-type cues, which is almost inevitable these days; and there are some moments that remind me of Alan Silvestri, but they are subtle influences. Director Alessio Liguori has this to say: “The music of Il Viaggio Leggendario is incredibly emotional and progresses into an emotional crescendo all the way through the end, transporting the viewer into an enchanted world where adventure and rhythm are king. Influences from the last century’s cinematic art are greatly evident in Fabrizio’s music, enriched by his modern amazing and unique traits.“

I’m quite enamoured with Mancinelli’s score. At 72 minutes it plays, maybe, fractionally too long. As with many long albums, the mid section could do with some careful cropping. As an album, I think a more focused 50-60 minute release would be more attractive. That said, there are plenty of lovely themes and colourful orchestrations to explore. And once you’re done with this vaggio, I encourage you to stick with Mancinelli and discover The Land of Dreams, one of last year’s highlights.

Rivers of Croatia (Dalibor Grubačević). The director of this documentary about the rivers of Croatia has this to say about the score: “Dalibor masterfully portrays the spirit of space and the habitat of rivers, from the lowlands, over the mountains to the coast.” The composer indeed creates beautiful moods through the use of rich synth pads and solo instruments such as piano and cello. The score is rather hypnotic at times due to those warm ever-evolving pads and repetitive melodic patterns (e.g. on the piano). It successfully conveys a calm and introspective mood. When it aims for a bigger sound or even grandeur, that’s where I think it falls just a bit short. For me, the choice of sounds and arrangements doesn’t quite have the authority to command awe; though it sure tries to prove me wrong in the final cue and almost succeeds. Another contributing factor, perhaps, is the lack of high frequencies. The whole album sounds like someone dialled down the treble and possibly pushed up the bass, resulting in a (surprisingly) bassy and muffled sound. It’s pleasant in a way, but also a bit dull because it lacks the clarity from the higher frequencies. Still, I enjoyed the 27 minutes of score and will gladly revisit.

Foe (Park Jiha, Oliver Coates & Agnes Obel). This is not an easy score to listen to. Let me clarify – it’s not bad or unpleasant, but it is almost entirely atmospheric and textural, with little in the way of traditional melodies to hang on to. Having looked at the director’s short filmography, I understand why it sounds the way it does. This is Garth Davis’ third movie; the first one, Lion, has a score by Dustin O’Halloran & Volker Bertelmann. His second, Mary Magdelene, a score by Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir. I think it’s fair to say that Davis seems to prefer moody, broody, abstract scores. The film tells the story of a dystopian future where selected individuals get a chance to live in a new settlement: a spaceship orbiting Earth. Give or take a few plot lines, it sounds quite familiar. The desolation on Earth is reflected in the score, most of which is by Park Jiha. who relies heavily on string- and woodwind textures. Occasionally she presents something melodic, but it’s long-lined and meandering. Live a river, you can observe it but can’t really get hold of it. Her material is interesting, a bit unnerving and sometimes quite intense, but it’s not something you’d happily listen to on a Sunday afternoon with your cup of tea. A few cues by Oliver Coates revolve around a more recognisable melody, albeit it a fleeting one. Presented as a paper thin violin line with a minimal arrangement, it has an eerie and dreamlike character. Agnes Obel contributes three cues, two for solo piano and one for cello (which is a re-arrangement of one of her other cues). The more I listen to this score, the more interesting I find it. If you’re into abstract, raw, textural music, and alternative performing techniques, without being too extreme, this may be of interest to you.

Good Grief (Rob Simonsen). Labelled as a comedy-drama, the music appears to primarily play on the drama. At just twenty minutes it’s a short album, dominated by piano with some strings (and maybe synth pads) backing. It’s lovely, melancholy, but also oh so familiar. If you love that often-called ‘neo classical’ style of raw piano, often associated with folks like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nils Frahm, Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann, Olafur Arnalds or Max Richter, then you might enjoy this score – or you might just think it’s too much of the same thing again. For me, I like its melancholy tones, even if the score as a whole is a bit anonymous. There’s quite a nice theme that first appears in “Promenade Nocture” and returns several times later, which sits on the quirky side of melancholy. During the closing cue, Simonsen adds lush, almost old-fashioned, strings which really amp up the romanticism. In all it’s pretty, short, simple, melancholy, and familiar, but you can’t really go wrong with it.

Grounded (Bill Wandel). It’s proving very difficult to find any information about this movie, other than that it is “the story of a man and his quest for purpose after losing the first two loves in his life“. The poster prominently features an airplane, so this man may well be a pilot. The score by Wandel (protégé of Alf Clausen, Jay Chattaway and Steve Bramson) is mostly light and romantic, occasionally playful, heavy on piano, strings and woodwinds. Stylistically, it resembles Thomas Newman, Rachel Portman, Dave Grusin perhaps, or a minimal James Horner (To Gillian… comes to mind during the opening cue). It’s perfectly lovely and pleasant, but it’s certainly not groundbreaking and, for me, never reaches the quality of the aforementioned Newman or Horner. It’s nice, but ultimately unmemorable; and with 61 minutes split into 35 cues, there’s a fair bit of repetition, making the album feel longer than it deserves.

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Article by Pete Simons (c) Synchrotones 2024