I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack | Jon Brion
an emily blunt review
Film Review
Composer: Interview Jon Brion
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Bluntly speaking? Musical talent Jon Brion continues to trump himself with each devilishly delicious offering he conjures up. Like the eclectic composer-writer-producer himself, Brion's choices - the films he agrees to score for - are unusual, very cerebral and oddly grounded in a Willy Wonkaish musical decoupagey whimsy that still manages to be firmly based in realism. To date he's done some of Hollywood's greatest thinking person films; Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Punch Drunk Love.

Now this remarkable bevy of creativity has strung together a big comfy blanket of notes for David O. Russell's existential ode, I Heart Huckabees. Brion seems to have captured the essence of the film so completely - artfully burrowed into its flowing complexity so completely - that a true multi-medium bond has, once again, been formed 'tween film and music. It's a kind of orchestrated carnival of deceptively simple sounds that upon closer listen reveal their intricate mosaic.

And as with all Jon's past soundtrack compositions his notes are instantly recognizable as Brionesque. However, just when you think you can raise an eyebrow confident in the song's direction, or say, genre, its inflection changes - Brion sweeps in a mad note here, a tinkle of the absurd there - and viola he ups your enjoyment levels by infusing an unexpected something somewhere; say a smart jazzed up jingle from out of left field, or a few chords reminiscent of your neighborhood ice-cream truck stitched into a melody.

The cd has twenty works. They are each vibrant pieces standing beside each other to share a tale, or if preferred, they can be enjoyed as singular creme dolloped petit fours of sound.

Brion's vocal yarns are for the thinking, tortured, sort. And if you wanna follow him, watch for the verbal stings of reality abounding. For example, are you confused about what it all even means? Track 2, "Knock Yourself Out," Brion says, "It might be a test. Or it might not be anything you need to worry about...If you wanna spend the day won'drin' what it's all about? Go an' knock yourself out." Gotta love the sarcasm. Hehehe. Or perhaps you're into feeling a bit defeatist - hoodwinked in life? No worries. In Track 5, " Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad," Jon laments on the still-birth of a relationship that I fear we've all been in. So next time you're there, alone, empty designer vodka bottle in hand, convulsively weeping, eyes as red as Richards', begging the memories to cease for one merciful nanosecond, whining aloud about what you could have ever seen in the wretched amoeba that ripped your heart out, threw it on the floor and poured battery acid atop, pop this little slice of reality in the player it may help ease the pain a bit - because "Didn't Think It Would Turn out Bad" reminds you're not a bad person for believing, - a fool maybe - but not bad, "These things happen to the best of us...".

The instrumental ditties, particularly Track 4, "Cubes," Track 10 "Ska," Track 12 "Huckabees Jingle (50's Version)," & Track 1 (& 20) "Monday," and Track 14, "JB's Blues" are just plain old kaleidoscopic musical merriment arranged for maximum auditory pleasure. The music dances about the mind, creating characters, poking into private vaulted crevices where you stored emotions since childhood, and making you want to twirl about - shamelessly - with or without the shades drawn. That's Brion.

The Huckabees cd is a masterpiece of sound that propels the film's lighter hearted over-our-head elements into a stratospheric realm of creativity reserved somewhere in Brion's own extraordinary galaxy - and the sweet part is we're invited. The music is at once surreal-y haunting and fluffernutty fun. Brion shapes his notes and molds their inflections into the kind of music that ads a pinch of wonder, whipping up a mental trip one note at a time and without the need of pharmaceuticals.

The man's been called a savant, genius, and so forth. Frankly, Brion's scores are always so original the thesaurus fails me when asked to ad to his list of defining adjectives. I think there's a word (perhaps fabtalenotecreatischteiner) that hasn't been spoken just yet to describe this multifarious talent. Enjoy. Buy it

Blunt Aside: Mr. Brion plays live at Largo In Los Angeles every Friday Night - get there if you can MORE INFO->

Track List:

1. Monday
2. Knock Yourself Out
3. Strange Bath
4. Cubes
5. Didn't Think It Would Turn out Bad
6. Coincidences
7. Over Our Heads
8. You Learn
9. Later Monday
10. Ska
11. Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
12. Huckabees Jingle (50's Version)
13. Revolving Door
14. JB's Blues
15. True To Yourself
16. Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad (String Quartet Version)
17. Strangest Times
18. Omni
19. Get What It's About
20. Monday (End Credits)