Suburban
Speed

Rating: 6.5/10

by: Rowan Holland

Alejandro G. Iñárritu took a risk with his previous film Birdman by filling the soundtrack with percussion, and here he has continued to experiment with the very nature of the motion picture soundtrack itself by using this score for his latest film The Revanant as a narrative device in the film.

The trio of composers he has chosen for the job consist of two former members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra - Ryuichi Sakamato and Alva Noto - and Bryce Dessner who is best known for being a guitarist in the National, but in recent years he has been working more within the field of modern classical music with people such as the Kronos Quartet.
Unlike Sakamoto's well known soundtrack for Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence for example, there is no central track to bring you into the album, other than the main theme. The concern here is that the album may become more like background music without the striking visuals, as it is quite a long listen in isolation.

The most arresting pieces are the recurring theme and the "dream" sequences. The initial main theme appears to sound warmer than you might expect, but with a glacially slow melody line. When it returns it changes ever so slightly, sometimes becoming deeper and more ominous, other times offering new hope, and by the time it is 'Theme 2' it is much less of an ensemble piece, instead it is mostly piano and cello.

'First Dream' has a minimal violin and piano melody picked out over distant percussion, 'Church Dream' is full of texture and beauty, the strings assuming the role of an organ, and 'Second Dream' towards the end of the album, is eerie and barely there, it's just an unsettling mood piece.

'Killing Hawk' is a swell of sound but it creeps up on you gradually, reflecting the power of nature, as it summons up icy winds. In fact the whole album could be seen as exploration of nature through sound, with overwhelming swells such as the end of 'Powqa Rescue' and the eerie high pitched tones on 'Hawk Punished'. 'Goodbye to Hawk' has an ominous bassy pulse yet somehow an icy stillness at its heart.

Some pieces provide welcome contrast to the oppressive mood. 'Arriving at Fort Kiowa' is almost a pure violin piece and the epic 'Cat and Mouse' shifts all over the place, as tricky and hard to pin down as the title suggests, ending in a flurry of mallet percussion.

Plenty to savour then, and for those of you that have seen the film, a change to recreate some of the drama again through this powerful soundtrack.