Panic Room

If I had a pound for every time I listened to a Howard Shore score that I thought was excellent, but I couldn't honestly say I'd actually either enjoyed or would be desperate to listen to again, I'd probably have amassed a sizable stash of coins. After his first, Oscar winning trip to Middle Earth, Shore returns to more familiar territory with a David Fincher thriller. Although somewhat less emphatically received than Fight Club or Seven, it is still very engaging stuff with a typically excellent performance from Jodie Foster in the lead role.

Howard Shore's somewhat anti-Hollywood, dark and brooding scoring is several pegs up in disturbing density from even the more gothic of Danny Elfman's efforts, re-enforcing Shore's position as a natural successor to Bernard Herrmann. That, coupled with Fincher's grim take on the world makes for a rumbling monolith of a score, with barely a cheerful note amongst them. I'm tempted to say this is a darker version of The Score, with the jazzy, propulsive turn in that score twisted to brooding with the inevitability of a depressing outcome. However, after the movement of the Main Title, a slower, more quietly insidious style comes into play. Even the relatively upbeat opening of Fourth Floor is soon giving way to a huge build up amongst swirling strings. Everything is low and dense, instruments clustering around one another, although never to such an extent that the result is muddied.

As the opening paragraph suggests, this is not necessarily a score I'd immediately think of digging out for a pleasant listen. Shore's scores rarely make much concession to memorable melody or cheeriness, but the artistry of his writing is such that repeat listens ought to be inspired if only because there is so much to hear and once isn't really enough. Of course, any with a dark edge to their persona will get a kick out of every minute, but for us gentler souls, it's dark, but gripping stuff. The relative brevity of the album is perhaps a bonus to prevent nerves from being totally shredded.