Thursday, November 30, 2006

favorite Fountain tracks

So, as I may have mentioned in other posts, I am currently obsessed with the soundtrack to The Fountain. Here are my favorite tracks:

(honorable mention) Track 2: Holy Dread!
Cool and trippy. Less traditionally beautiful than the following five tracks, but possessed of a style all its own. Bonus points for leading into "Tree of Life" (see below). Still, I tried to limit myself to five of the disc's ten tracks (much as I love them all), and this one didn't quite make the cut.

#5: Track 6: Xibalba
Lyrical and beautiful. Takes a while to get going, but once it does, the lovely cello, other strings and background chorus just overtake you. Of the disc's ten tracks, this is definitely the mellowest and most traditionally "spiritual" sounding. It stands apart from the others in that it doesn't repeat many of the same central themes, as many of the others seem to do. Anyway, I love it. A strong #5.

#4: Track 7: First Snow
Sort of a prelude to #2 on this list, so it loses points for being basically the same thing, but less... but WHAT a prelude. What a grand theme. This music is so stunningly beautiful. Puts you in a trance, it does.

#3: Track 3: Tree of Life
You might think from it's title that THIS track would be the mellow, spiritual one. Surprise! It's closer to a dance club rhythm. Well, sort of. In any case, it's very intense and drum-laden... just begging for some kind of dance to be choreographed around it. Maybe not club dancing... but modern or west african would fit it just fine. LOVE it.

#2: Track 9: Death is the Road to Awe
OK, the title of this one tells you all you need to know. Well, not really. This one just needs to be heard. A lot. Like, all the time. It's basically the best music I've ever heard - oh wait, nevermind, there's still one track more to go. But regardless, this track is just... well, words fail me. All the accusations of it being "New Age," crazy/electric and whatnot are true, but if you can get past that (or if you just LIKE New Age shit, like me), you will love it like no other. Structured as a theme-and-variation kind of musical "quickening," it consists of several rounds of heightened intensity of the same central theme. Oh, and it's also totally orgasmic. Literally. One of my goals in life is to have sex to this music. Like, seriously. It's THAT amazing. BUT not as amazing as...

#1: Track 10: Together We Will Live Forever
OK, if #2 was the "during sex" music, #1 is the "after sex while smoking a cigarette" music. The diminuendo. The bittersweet remembrance. The wonder. This simple piano rearrangement of the previous themes is strikingly sad and hauntingly beautiful, especially when listened to immediately after all the other music in sequence.

This last track seals the deal on The Fountain being one of the all-time great film scores, in its own unique and trippy way.

Those of you who've heard the music, feel free to comment if you're so inclined. You know who you are ; )

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sex is probably the last thing I think about while listening to this score. You are a strange lad.

No really, I actually like "Xibalba" the best out of all the tracks, precisely because of the elements you brought up. It really transports me, and I start to think about scary and mind-boggling things like the afterlife, what happiness means to me, the mortality of my loved ones, and all that lovely stuff. Actually, this could extend to Mansell's score overall. Lately, when I ride the bus to and from school, I crank the volume full blast and close my eyes. It's sheer bliss for a chunk of time before returning to life and all my obligations. You can see it's difficult for me to articulate the hold it has over me.

Lovely post though. Clearly you've been enjoying it as much as I have.

6:28 PM  
Blogger adam k. said...

Thanks! I've been trying to do stuff other than film reviews and awards predictions, and I thought this would be fun.

You don't think this music is sexual? Haha, I absolutely think so. Especially if you consider sex to be the physical representation of all the themes in the film - being alive and together while you can, etc, knowing it'll soon be over - but the music is also just so viscerally charged that I couldn't help but equate it with sex. The heightening intensity of "Death Is the Road to Awe" particularly seems made for sex.

I also love "Xibalba." In retrospect, I might flip it with "Tree of Life" and make it #3. But it wasn't the one I found myself listening to repeatedly.

I also love "Stay With Me" a lot... it's just that it's very repetitive, sort of the same thing over and over again for the whole three and a half minutes.

Whatever, I just love the whole album. It's genius.

11:24 PM  
Blogger Javier Aldabalde said...

It's fabulous, but "Holy Dread!" is my favorite. It's erotic and dark and just plain wonderful. The soundtrack is sex as you say.

7:26 PM  
Blogger adam k. said...

Thanks for backing me up on that, Javier. I really can't wait for the opportunity to get it on this music.

Also nice to hear another fan of "Holy Dread!" I feel like I should've made room for it. I did make sure to give it a mention.

7:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Freaks!

2:55 PM  
Blogger Emma said...

My boyfriend got me to the OST yesterday, and you are right, it is THE SEX!! Every track on here is like an aural orgasm, it's amazing. I could listen to it all day.

6:02 AM  

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