We’re finally in 2022! While 2021 was a very good year for film music, with dozens of excellent scores to listen to, how will the new year fare? Coincidentally, the main scores released in January that I cover belong to films that received their wide release in 2021. As a result, these otherwise great scores never received the attention they deserved. But now’s the chance to finally give them a proper listen! As always, if you think I’ve missed any scores from this month (or any past months), leave a comment or get in touch and I’ll check them out!
Although 2022 has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, there were still too many scores released this month for me to me to cover! Make sure to scroll to the end of this article for a list of even more January scores to check out!
Have a quick read about each of these excellent scores below then be sure to give them a listen. Be sure to see what other scores you may have missed by reading past editions of this column or listen to me talk about some of these releases:
The Harder They Fall – Jeymes Samuel
Jeymes Samuel’s score to The Harder They Fall is one of the most refreshing film scores of recent years. Samuel starts with some basic aspects of what we’d expect from a “typical” Western score, then turns it on its head with folk, field holler/songs, hip hop, and more. In this combination, The Harder They Fall is something we’ve rarely, if ever, heard in film, and it’s electrifying. It becomes a distinctly Black American score in a genre of film that has almost completely erased Black existence from its setting.
Just like how Bob Dylan and Neil Young injected modern music into the Western decades ago in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Dead Man, respectively, so too does Jeymes Samuel with The Harder They Fall. Frankly, I get giddy every time I listen to it: not just because of how good it is, but also because of the exciting future it promises.
The Tragedy of Macbeth – Carter Burwell (Review) (Interview)
Carter Burwell is probably best known for his collaborations with the Coen Brothers, but The Tragedy of Macbeth is his first collaboration with just one brother. Not surprisingly, the results are just as good. The Tragedy of Macbeth is a fairly minimal score, with two slow, dour themes that both focus heavily on the inevitable titular tragedy. Burwell hides nothing here; from the first moments he hits the listener with a heavy, burdensome cloud of gloom that inevitably drives the characters into a violent carnage. There is no safe harbor here.
The score release does include a significant amount of dialogue, which often overwhelms the music. During awards season, Apple released a for-your-consideration version of the score that omits the dialogue samples. If possible, that is the version to hear.
Benedetta – Anne Dudley
Benedetta received a decent amount of hype when it first hit the festival circuits, but lost amidst that discourse was that it had an Anne Dudley score. It’s a very string-heavy score with a strong foundation of female choral vocals singing in Latin, giving it a dignified, undeniably Catholic identity. But a sense of tension springs from it, as it focuses not on the film’s forbidden romance itself, but on the danger of that romance and the fallout that may come.
A Few More Scores
As often happens, there were simply too many great scores released in January to cover, so here are a few more:
- En attendant Bojangles – Clare Manchon and Olivier Manchon
- Adieu Monsieur Haffmann – Christophe Julien
- Exposing Muybridge – Chad Cannon (Interview)
- Hotel Transylvania: Transformania – Mark Mothersbaugh
- The House – Gustavo Santaolalla
- The King’s Daughter – John Coda, Grant Kirkhope, and Joseph Metcalfe
- The Last Thing Mary Saw – Keegan DeWitt
- Redeeming Love – Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian (Interview)
- The Wall – Climb for Gold – Nainita Desai and Thom Robson (Interview)
- La notte piu lunga dell’anno – Riccardo Cimino, Antonio Deodati, and Unaderosa
Want to stay up-to-date on the latest releases? Check out my new playlist of notable new film scores (updated regularly):