One day I happened to find out that Daft Punk composed the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. I cannot comment on the movie as I haven’t seen it (although after seeing the trailer I am not expecting much from it), but the idea of another film score from Daft Punk sounded really nice. Daft Punk’s own screen work so far has been peculiarly good and I am looking forward to the time when I get down to reviewing Interstella 5555 and Electroma.
The Tron score consists of 22 tracks. I review them individually below not as a music critic (for God’s sake, I am not!), but as a human-after-all being:
1. Overture: slow-building and powerfully noble
2. The Grid: pensive, with a sense of foreboding
3. The Son of Flynn: 70’s or 80’s sci-fi sounding
4. Recognizer: thrilling and tense, with a sour feeling to it; the kind of music that should accompany life-turning decisions
5. Armory: gently threatening
6. Arena: the good old Daft Punk sound, slightly reminiscent of Alive from the 1997 Homework
7. Rinzler: slow-building electronic panic
8. The Game Has Changed: probably, one of the most characteristic tracks of the album demonstrating the perfect marriage of electronic and orchestral sound
9. Outlands: anxious and classical
10. Adagio for Tron: has this quiet post-storm mood and would be very suitable for a psychological drama
11. Nocturne: as solemn as the Universe
12. End of Line: something like a milder version of Television Rules the Nation from Human After All with a hint of 8-bit computer game sound
13. Derezzed: once again, good old Daft Punk and French house of the late 90’s
14. Fall: stormy and sweeping
15. Solar Sailer: almost meditative, but with non-abating tension
16. Rectifier: alarming and almost disturbing, a higher level of panic compared to Rinzler
17. Disc Wars: tragic
18. C.L.U.: perfect combination of electronic tension, orchestral grandeur, and classical elegance
19. Arrival: elevating
20. Flynn Lives: noble and epic
21. Tron Legacy (End Titles): typically end-titles sounding
22. Finale: menacing, massive, pensive… epic
Aesthetically, Daft Punk with their 80’s style are perfect for something like Tron: Legacy (paradoxically, I hate 80’s but love Daft Punk). The album does sound like it was written for a sci-fi epic of late 70’s – early 80’s, maybe for a Stanley Kubrick film, which brings us to the original Tron soundtrack written by Wendy Carlos who worked on Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. Quite a complicated story, isn’t it?
Overall, we do not hear as much Daft Punk on this album as many have probably been anticipating, but were those anticipations justified anyway? Knowing the music selection for Daft Punk’s own film, Electroma, I was not surprised to hear modernised classical music rather than typical house. Yet, I am still wondering if Disney and Daft Punk actually worked on the same film. The soundtrack will definitely do well on its own, how well the movie will perform I cannot tell as I haven’t seen it. With this powerful orchestral sound and psychotension, I think Daft Punk would be better off working for Christopher Nolan rather than Disney.
Listening to this album reminds me of some Daft Punk fans’ questions about what the duo are going to do now that they are far beyond their twenties. I think the answer is quite obvious. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo revealed another side of their musical talent and coped with the Disney task professionally (although judging by the Interstella 5555 story they should be hating the corporation). The album is very good at delivering a variety of moods within the overall gloomy atmosphere. Daft Punk proved yet again that they are more than just an electronic/dance music duo.
P.S. I wonder if the film is made up to its OST standard.
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