Music Reviews
Underworld and Gabriel Yared

Underworld and Gabriel Yared

Breaking and Entering: Music From the Film

V2

My previous exposure to Underworld’s dalliance with soundtrack work was the inclusion of their club hit “Born Slippy” at the end of Trainspotting. It was one of those perfect filmic pre-credit moments where the song’s emotion and drive encapsulates the previous hour-and-a-half into roughly five minutes of music. Their collaboration with Gabriel Yared for Anthony Mighella’s Breaking and Entering is a completely different beast entirely. The propulsive Euro disco groove is forsaken for serene soundscapes of electronics; even strings and subtle breakbeats cut very foggy lines in the compositions’ ether. It’s all very low key and fitting for a drama of urban relationships. At times, the thin pulse given to this work could be heard as ominous, others it feels repressed. “Hungerford Bridge” breaks softly like daylight after a particularly calm night, but the the last seconds of the track resonate with a chilly melody. For all of the slow building tracks like this there is no climactic moment on the score, it fades out at the end just as humbly as each individual track ushers in the next. Even the percussion rich “Monkey Two” keeps its distance from the listener, pulling the clatter farther and farther away as the song progresses. Having not seen the film, I can only guess how the conflict plays out, but at least I know the action (or inaction) is supported beautifully.

V2 Records: http://www.v2records.com


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