New Heroes

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The soundtrack to the PBS series of the same name, Christopher Hedges' work here is meant to stand alone to tell the same stories as the documentaries, but at a more solely emotional level. Along with relatively simple compositions and sampling techniques, music is used to evoke the loneliness of slaves and prostitutes and samples from the affected regions are intermixed slyly to double the effects. The work can be almost unsettling at its most successful, and alternately hopeful. The music is well played throughout, filling Hedges' pieces with their intensity. This is program music at its best. The documentary itself would be a worthwhile companion, but the soundtrack does indeed manage to stand on its own.