The Road: Original Film Score

Nick Cave has been composing music for films since the ‘80s, and in recent years he’s collaborated with Dirty Three violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis on scores for The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The pair, who has also worked together in the Bad Seeds and Grinderman, crafted an excellent soundtrack for 2009’s The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s bleak post-apocalyptic novel. (John Hillcoat directed both The Proposition and The Road.) Cave’s spare piano stylings and Ellis’s long-tone melodies mark much of this brooding score. The album opens with the gentle sounds of “Home,” which features tinkling bells and piano. By contrast, “The House,” one of the most striking tracks, bristles with tense bowings and chugging rhythms. The next cue, “The Church,” has a melody that hints at hymns, bringing the listener down from the anxiety of “The House.” Another standout, “The Family,” shimmers with glistening string timbres that are truly eerie. The Road comes to a calm close with “The Boy,” which creates a strong atmosphere with a minimum of means.