In a time not terribly long ago soundtracks were glorified mix tapes for our favorite fictional film idols. The marriage and music and film may be amongst the most inexplicable and exquisite pairings the world has ever known. Wes Anderson, Cameron Crowe and Martin Scorsese are the masters of weaving narratives with the music taking the scene or moment to a heightened emotion or forcing us to look at a song in a way we never imagined. During the 1990's soundtracks started selling by the millions enticing record executives to exploit the art of it. Music lovers were tired of buying cd's full of only one or two songs they loved and turned to soundtracks to get a better variety and a higher hit percentage. Someone along the line decided that the soundtrack should be whored out and even if the film didn't have any pop songs, in it they could find a market for one. Superhero flicks began to have compilations full of b-sides and leftover tracks and as a result (along with the invention of mp3's); people stopped caring and stopped buying them. Unless the filmmaker infuses the music into the film to hit you with a wordless feeling, there's no point to releasing one. A few years back, Zack Braff concocted a diverse array of artists for his Garden State soundtrack. The film touched a nerve with people because it was authentic and the songs used in the film helped further the story, not to mention a soundtrack that sold over a million copies. As a result, we had a bona fide mix tape full of superb discoveries. We now finally have a soundtrack up to par with Garden State, (500) Days of Summer. The film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel is just hitting theaters and these songs help you sense the visceral emotions of the characters through the album's fifteen songs (and one spoken intro). Finding middle ground between uber-indie pretension and sing-a-long pop epiphanies the soundtrack has a little bit here for everyone and never drowns in its own self importance. The Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" has an elated beat that spirals like a flaming arrow, while Carla Bruni proves herself to be more than a pretty face with the French song "Quelqu'un m'a dit". Even though I don't understand a word she's singing, I hear the ache in her voice. There's even a few crowning classics thrown in for good measure; Hall & Oates's "You Make My Dreams" and Simon & Garfunkel's "Bookends" verifying that even indie treasures can sit side by side with commercial hits. Wolfmother's "Vagabond" mashes their strengths for a hybrid of Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan that feels like a long lost cut from vintage album.
The soundtrack houses a few artists I will be seeking out beyond this soundtrack including Mumm-Ra's
"She's Got You High" which is downright luminous with its pensive and echoing guitar which sounds more like a choral chamber than a six string. I'm not sure if I would have found Meaghan Smith's cover of the Pixies "Here Comes Your Man", yet it is charming and quixotic as a standalone song but as the album's penultimate track, it feels like you're coming around the bend at the completion of the journey with its all too one-dimensional keyboard rhythm. There are two songs by the Smiths that amplify the intricacies of the boy meets girl story with easy on the ear melodies and Morrissey's all too heartrending lyrics that puncture one's soul ("There Is A Light That Never Goes Out") and yet with another, make them want and need to fall in love ("Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"). Without seeing the film, I have a sense the relationship is doomed because as the spoken intro explains, I'm not sure if anyone who truly loves the Smiths could ever truly find love because what they think love is and what is truly is are two different entities all together. No band has ever made the sweet so saccharine and the sour so resentful. The closing track finds Deschanel giving her own rendition of "Please, Please, Please
" with M. Ward as part of their group She & Him. Deschanel occupies the lyrics with fervor and this is what differentiates it from a run of the mill cover.
Even if the novelty of this soundtrack eventually wears off, I'll always revisit to it for Regina Spektor's "Us". At the songs musical core is a dashing piano lead paired with doting lyrics exuding the sensation of falling in love, falling out of love, loving to be loved, happy to have loved and the overall belief that love is really all you need. Spektor has a voice that is earnest, tear-jerking, compelling and sexy concurrently. She exudes so many acute emotions with her piano playing and vocal delivery that I can't help but want to fall in love with her and her music immediately. As the violins shutter together as Spektor sings without words, I felt effervescent and this is what enlightening music is all about, crawling into your soul and turning everything inside of you upside down. My advice, stop reading my writing and go out and experience the music for yourself. Every year people buy a book, travel to a foreign land, discover a new restaurant and so on in search of something fresh, new and exciting. Despite the fact I have not seen the film, I can't imagine a more rewarding or varied listening experience than the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack. Its discoveries won't just be the soundtrack for a car ride, but songs that will sweep you away.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
