i heart huckabees (soundtrack). review by alan haber. buhdge

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I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack Jon Brion Milan (2004) The thing about soundtracks is you usually can't make head or tail of them unless you've seen the movie, and even then, hard as you might try, it's hard to come to grips with music that, piece by piece, more often than not builds up to less than a whole. I'm talking about a complete listening experience that makes sense within the context of the complete work at hand. I find myself asking lots of questions when listening to most soundtracks: Where does this piece fit in? Wouldn't it have been better if the composer had fleshed this snippet out to a longer length? These questions are often not fair to the composer, or anyone for that matter, because pieces of music within a soundtrack are composed to fit specific lengths of time, specific scenes, perhaps simply a character's entrance or exit or a simple feeling. But there are people who love soundtracks and don't have a problem with their often jumbled construction. I guess it helps to know where the music goes, as far as the movie is concerned; it helps to connect the dots. This is why, for me, listening to soundtracks, even those written by writers I like and admire, is more often than not a chore. I love Randy Newman, but I have trouble getting through his soundtrack albums, past the main theme and, of course, his one or two songs per picture, the Toy Story movies an exception. Imagine my surprise, then, that Jon Brion's soundtrack for I Heart Huckabees works so well as a soundtrack album, all on its own, whether you've seen the movie or not. I haven't. But while browsing in a CD store recently, my ears perked up as a familiar sounding, well, sound caught my ear. Then, the familiar sounding voice. Is that Jon Brion? It was the song "Knock Yourself Out," from Huckabees, a glorious little tune, just over two minutes long, buoyed by the warmth of mellotron strings, and I was hooked. Cue the listening station. Prepared not to like the rest of the CD, I listened to bits and pieces of the remaining tracks. The instrumentals, brief though they are, glistened, even in their seemingly abbreviated state, a sense of mystery and detachment trading places with warm, loving sounds and a sense of hope. I don't know where these pieces fit into the overall jigsaw puzzle, but they shine just fine on their own. The vocal numbers, some of which appear on the soundtrack, but not in the film, are just terrific: "Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad" rocks with a wild lead guitar, twisting the notes like taffy; "Over Our Heads" is grand and majestic, piano-based, with Brion's sensitive, slightly tentative voice (and a tight harmony patch) at the forefront; "Revolving Door" is just this side of bluesy and rocky all at once, with great harmonies; and "Get What It's About" is a neat confessional, slow and thoughtful, ending up as an instrumental, with a lyric that just about sums up what I get from these pieces: "I get the feeling that I get what it's about." I do, somehow. The instrumentals here set the overall mood, and the vocal songs elaborate on that mood, adding textures and meaning. When the soundtrack concludes, with a reprise of the opening instrumental, "Monday," everything comes full circle. I'm certain that seeing the movie would really tie things together, and I plan on doing that. There is one other thing, one perhaps most important thing, that helps to communicate what this music is about, and that is the singular vision of Jon Brion, playing most of the instruments and doing all of the singing and tying it all together in a little bow that is not neat, but loose, so you can climb back in the box later on and see how the music speaks to you on another day, however melancholy or happy or sad you are. The music here does that, speaks to you and me and everybody, drawing something or other out of us, one note at a time, whatever the message. Just think: somewhere to go--a soundtrack, of all places--to sort it all out. Alan Haber November 28, 2004
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I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack
Jon Brion
Milan (2004)

i heart the i heart huckabees soundtrack The thing about soundtracks is you usually can't make head or tail of them unless you've seen the movie, and even then, hard as you might try, it's hard to come to grips with music that, piece by piece, more often than not builds up to less than a whole.

I'm talking about a complete listening experience that makes sense within the context of the complete work at hand. I find myself asking lots of questions when listening to most soundtracks: Where does this piece fit in? Wouldn't it have been better if the composer had fleshed this snippet out to a longer length? These questions are often not fair to the composer, or anyone for that matter, because pieces of music within a soundtrack are composed to fit specific lengths of time, specific scenes, perhaps simply a character's entrance or exit or a simple feeling.

But there are people who love soundtracks and don't have a problem with their often jumbled construction. I guess it helps to know where the music goes, as far as the movie is concerned; it helps to connect the dots.

This is why, for me, listening to soundtracks, even those written by writers I like and admire, is more often than not a chore. I love Randy Newman, but I have trouble getting through his soundtrack albums, past the main theme and, of course, his one or two songs per picture, the Toy Story movies an exception.

Imagine my surprise, then, that Jon Brion's soundtrack for I Heart Huckabees works so well as a soundtrack album, all on its own, whether you've seen the movie or not. I haven't. But while browsing in a CD store recently, my ears perked up as a familiar sounding, well, sound caught my ear. Then, the familiar sounding voice. Is that Jon Brion? It was the song "Knock Yourself Out," from Huckabees, a glorious little tune, just over two minutes long, buoyed by the warmth of mellotron strings, and I was hooked.

Cue the listening station. Prepared not to like the rest of the CD, I listened to bits and pieces of the remaining tracks. The instrumentals, brief though they are, glistened, even in their seemingly abbreviated state, a sense of mystery and detachment trading places with warm, loving sounds and a sense of hope. I don't know where these pieces fit into the overall jigsaw puzzle, but they shine just fine on their own.

The vocal numbers, some of which appear on the soundtrack, but not in the film, are just terrific: "Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad" rocks with a wild lead guitar, twisting the notes like taffy; "Over Our Heads" is grand and majestic, piano-based, with Brion's sensitive, slightly tentative voice (and a tight harmony patch) at the forefront; "Revolving Door" is just this side of bluesy and rocky all at once, with great harmonies; and "Get What It's About" is a neat confessional, slow and thoughtful, ending up as an instrumental, with a lyric that just about sums up what I get from these pieces: "I get the feeling that I get what it's about."

I do, somehow. The instrumentals here set the overall mood, and the vocal songs elaborate on that mood, adding textures and meaning. When the soundtrack concludes, with a reprise of the opening instrumental, "Monday," everything comes full circle. I'm certain that seeing the movie would really tie things together, and I plan on doing that.

There is one other thing, one perhaps most important thing, that helps to communicate what this music is about, and that is the singular vision of Jon Brion, playing most of the instruments and doing all of the singing and tying it all together in a little bow that is not neat, but loose, so you can climb back in the box later on and see how the music speaks to you on another day, however melancholy or happy or sad you are. The music here does that, speaks to you and me and everybody, drawing something or other out of us, one note at a time, whatever the message.

Just think: somewhere to go--a soundtrack, of all places--to sort it all out.

Alan Haber
November 28, 2004