Little Miss Sunshine (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
This dysfunctional family/road movie by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris was one of '06's most delightfully skewed comic treats. Its soundtrack is no less inventive, complimenting the film's human foibles and left-field laughs with an impressive feat of musical alchemy, teaming Canadian film scorer/new age artist Mychael Danna with eclectic Denver indie outfit Devotchka for the bulk of the score. The unlikely teaming's evocative, cabaret-meets-Morricone conceits bring a stately focus to their collaborations, while never hampering the muse of either artist. Contemporary singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens also contributes a pair of smart performances whose arrangements are well-synced to the Danna/Devotchka musical axis, while Tony Tisdale's "Catwalkin'" and a slinky remix of Rick James' "Superfreak" give the collection welcome doses of club-savvy sass and pop kitsch relief.