Soundtrack Review: Burn After Reading (2008)
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This is a review of the motion picture score for Burn After Reading by Carter Burwell.
“Burwell is atypically, by design, responding not to what is on screen but adding to it.”
 Title: Burn After ReadingComposer: Carter Burwell Tracks: 23 Length: 35:58 Label: Lakeshore Records Price: $18.98 Release Date: September 16 2008 |
Joel and Ethan Coen are artists who continually write and direct their characters at arms length. Any emotion that might infuse their work, they tend to step back from and let it play out; a clinical yet always compassionate approach that never allows you to get fully caught up in it. Strange then, that for the past twenty-four years, they’ve chosen to work almost exclusively with a composer I would denote as having an insatiable penchant for melodrama. Carter Burwell has never been one for the insincerity of a gentle tug on the heartstrings, or coloring varied human weakness and deficit in the subtly minute. He cuts hard and fast to the often wholly tragic inner workings of the characters. To me he can’t help but suggest the downhearted psychology of the desperate and deluded in everything he writes.
Track List
- Earth Zoom In
- Higher Patriotism
- Linda Looks for Love (Part 1)
- Night Running
- Building the Chair
- Rendezvous
- Opportunity
- Plan B
- Seating
- Homeless
- Harry Looks for Love
- Breaking and Entering
- I Killed a Spook
- After the Loving
- Tuchman Marsh
- CarrotsShot
- Linda Looks for Love (Part 2)
- Who Are You
- How Is This Possible
- Negativity
- Struggle for Ebullience
- Intruder!
- Earth Zoom (Out)
Geopolitical Thriller
The pomposity of opener “Earth Zoom In”, a Molotov cocktail of strings, woodwinds, and Tyco drums, incongruously suggests we’re firmly in the geopolitical thriller territory of John Powell’s Bourne franchise. Burwell himself has labeled this the ‘McGuffin’ of the film, the thing that really drives the plot, a widespread conspiracy that the characters honestly believe themselves to be a part of, but in actuality is really not important at all.
I’ve not seen the film itself yet, but surely, on behalf of the characters, this is a delusion of the most tragic nature?
Self-examination
Customarily, there is no shortage of histrionic fireworks on display here, and cues such as “Breaking and Entering” even go so far as to topple the recent output of Brian Tyler for explosive action and exhilaration. Yet such discharges are always rooted in lonely human aspiration. Therein lies the appeal of Burwell for me; what has always been his ability to communicate the struggles of those inwardly battling the attenuating effects of enervation and ennui in their own lives, boldly struggling to find meaning and solace in personal space otherwise languished by stifling superficiality and domestication. I would cite the cues “Opportunity” and “How Is This Possible?” as well as his prior albums for Being John Malkovich and Hamlet as shining examples of this type of self-examination.
Conclusion
The bracing gusto of this score, recalls in some weird way, Philip Glass’ work for Notes On A Scandal and The Hours, in that it conveyed to me on an epic canvas, a kind of loneliness far more severe than the endurable kind we all share at one time or another, but that of those with no real connections in life at all. I have my suspicions of the film, that the people being described here musically, are the kind searching for validation without any real vocation, hence why they affix themselves to the supposed milieu of governmental espionage. I’ve heard the film also described as a wacky sex comedy, so if this is the case, Burwell is atypically, by design, responding not to what is on screen but adding to it.
While not as austere or fatalistic as the sublime Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead earlier this year, the lingering sensation is still one of prototypical ‘Burwellian’ sobriety.
Listen To the track Intruder! From Burn After Reading by Carter Burwell below:
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Comments
another good review Tim. unlike Eagle Eye, i agree with you here - this was a pretty damn good score, and i don’t even like Burwell. in fact this might be my favourite Burwell score.
cheers
KZ
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sdtom: On the contrary, far from difficult it was one of the most pleasurable scores I’ve heard all year and my review, as well as quite clearly stating that I have not seen the film, goes on at great length to posit that no matter the film’s content, Burwell, to my ears, conjures similar/familiar moods with every project - moods which are at odds with what is being scored. I refer to the line: “Burwell is atypically, by design, responding not to what is on screen but adding to it.”
Though yes you are right. A score is married to the context in which it appears and this will no doubt, exponentially change my perspective on the album.
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I’d suggest seeing the corresponding film when reviewing a soundtrack. You don’t necessarily have to in order to enjoy the music, but it just does a disservice to the whole notion of a soundtrack if you don’t have the visual reference.
It’s like eating great food with your nose plugged.
I also suggest researching taiko (or daiko) drumming. It’s not ‘tyco’…
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Jorn Tillnes Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 3:31 am
It’s an interesting point you make Nat. Soundtracks are a special medium that will always be tied into the movie it’s used on. It also asks the question: Do people who buy the soundtrack watch it because of the movie or other reasons? Even if they buy it because of the visual reference, they will still listen to it outside of the movie and have to enjoy it there. In my own experience it’s usually a totally different experience. When I read reviews, I want to hear how it stands on it’s own, how it moves you, what parts are boring, what are exciting etc.
The reason I don’t trust references to the movie is that almost everyone I know have very subjective views which is tied into their own personal feelings for the movie. I do the same mistake so I try not to involve the movie too much in my reviews even though I know it’s a necessity. The music should be enjoyed for the music alone and even if you never seen the movie, movie scores are great. I have a huge collection, mostly from movies I have never seen and I couldn’t be happier. Seeing the movie after listening to a great score almost ruins the experience, and I have to say it’s happened so much that I start to avoid certain movies.
Anyway, great points and certainly highly debatable.
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I would consider seeing the film and then perhaps revising the review. I think this is an extremely difficult listen away from the film not knowing more about the movie.
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