Despite my limited exposure to his music, Badalamenti's score still isn't really much of a surprise. A mixture of drum kit, guitar, some synth pads, it's faux folksy atmospherics and although there's always a melody on hand, it isn't terribly noteworthy. Badalamenti is good at using his ensemble to create an interesting mix, but as mentioned above, it is similar to Thomas Newman, but Badalamenti is more forthright in his ideas with more obvious melody. There are some nice touches, Snow Dome Dreams starts with a lullaby that seems sweet, but also feels slightly cynical too. Most tracks are underpinned with percussion and these keep everything moving along, although the quieter moments are perhaps the most expressive. The second half of Seeing Scars is particularly effective as synth pads, piano and acoustic guitar combine for an atmospheric, but dramatically astute couple of minutes.
The album is bookended by songs performed by Leonard Cohen and Lizzie West, the former isn't really to my taste, but Chariots Rise is a nice folk/indy effort, only slightly marred by a slightly unflattering recording, West's voice just a touch too upfront. Pleasingly, they actually feel like they belong on the album and work well alongside the underscore. Film music does come in many different musical genres and this generally shies away from a more typical orchestral score, despite the occasional (quite probably synthetic) string passage, but remains an interesting alternative. As with many Newman scores, the mood and textures are likely to be remembered much more than the melodic content, but not entirely unsuccessful for all that.
Rating ~ 