Soundtrack Review: The Road (2010)

The Road Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the motion picture score The Road by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.

"It certainly does a number on me emotionally and intellectually"

The world has ended... in America at least, as a man and his son walk the desolated wastelands looking for food and shelter. It's another post-apocalyptic tale of hardship and the struggle to survive. Directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce, it's an interesting if very dark tale of what could happen. The story is based on the Pulitzer winning book The Road by Cormack McCarthy. It seems to have been well received all round and the music is provided by the critics' favorites Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.

Track List

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are most known for their 2007 score to the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. That title alone got them a lot of praise and so much is expected of their score to The Road. Can they continue making emotional folksy music or discover another musical style they have yet to employ? To be honest, there is much of Jesse James in The Road, but luckily it's all good and very fitting. Of course being the dynamic duo that they are, nominations come hard, especially at the academy. They don't seem to mind though. I think it better to let them focus on what really matters, and that's delivering great music to the masses.

A Little Sad and Crazy

How does the score to The Road make me feel? A little sad, a little thoughtful and a little crazy. The sad part is quite easy to identify with as the score has a dark undertone to it, the sort that makes an impression on you that you can't get rid of no matter how hard you try. There is a message here, a story that Cave and Ellis are trying to tell. It's an interesting mix of fleeting music like the lovely piano sequences that can only be described as hope, yet it also makes me feel sad, why is that? I start to think about the main characters, this world they have been thrown into and what they have experienced and it gets to me. Cave and Ellis plays me like a fiddle and get right to my emotions. This score can put you in a reflective mood and stir your emotions with thoughts only disturbed by the occasional crazy=sounding cue that is tailored for the action sequences.

The piano cues are truly great. The themes are lovely and the cues 'The Road', 'The Far Road' and 'The Church' represent slight hope in the darkness. They are kind of uplifting, but the underscoring is sad with the heavy strings. 'Storytime' and 'Memory' are stories told for you by music. They are emotional string-driven cues that tell you a lot about the mood they are trying to capture. It has a lot of heart and the darkness seeps in like water in a cup. In fact, The Road falls somewhere in between the duo's scores for The Proposition and Jesse James, but it doesn't end up between two chairs, just a pleased audience. It's less experimental than The Proposition, but more so than Jesse James. Cave and Ellis might have found the perfect mix, but it's always hard to please everyone at the same time. It's mix of subtle piano themes and the weird but fascinating dramatic cues, like 'The Cannibals' and 'The Cellar' that sound like a proper acid trip with banging drums, whining violins and an orchestra gone wild.

Conclusion

The Road is another winner for Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' growing list of accomplishments. I like the mix they've got going here. I knew beforehand that it was never about the themes or their desire to impress, it's about the story and it's being told through the minds and music of Cave & Warren. This score can easily accompany your own story with it's thoughtful and eclectic tones, as it certainly does a number on me emotionally and intellectually.

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Listen to The Road soundtrack by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis below: