Explosions In The Sky – Friday Night Lights soundtrack
(Hip-O)

If you’re familiar with Explosions In The Sky, you know it was only a matter of time before they were tapped to provide music for a film. Their epic instrumentals are packed with emotional power and intensity that truly feel as though they are taking the listener on a sonic journey. I’ve often found it fascinating how appropriate the band name is, as their songs are like the audio equivalent of watching fireworks: beautiful, gentle, sparkling melodies that build to a thundering crescendo. Rumour has it they have previously written music for some indie films in the past, but if you would have told me that Explosions In The Sky’s music would one day be the backdrop for a big budget Hollywood football movie, I never would have believed you. How they ever got hooked up with Brian Grazer, Peter Berg and the movie Friday Night Lights is beyond me; the only connection I can see is that Explosions In The Sky hail from Texas, and the movie Friday Night Lights is the story of the Permian High School Panthers based in Odessa, Texas.

This soundtrack has been billed as a new Explosions In The Sky album, even to the extent that the band has been playing songs from the film’s score on their latest tour. When viewed in that light, this collection of songs is a little disappointing. Technically there are 11 new Explosions In The Sky tracks here, but two of them are versions of the song “Your Hand In Mine”, which appeared on their last album “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place”. One features strings while the other sounds pretty similar to the album version, but this is probably the most interesting and fully formed song on the album and it was already previously released.

Most of the other songs feel like short fragments of a larger whole that don’t really go anywhere. Perfect for use within the movie I’m sure, but they won’t completely hold your attention on their own. Although the last Explosions album was definitely more mellow than their previous ones, there’s not a single song on this soundtrack that leads to one of the cathartic explosions of noise that the band is known for. In fact, with the exception of a couple tracks, there isn’t even any drumming here… simply soft, shimmering guitars and occasionally some string section accompaniment.

“An Ugly Fact Of Life” is one of the more memorable songs, with its sad bending guitar refrain.”To West Texas” features about as much of a build up as you get on this album, with some faint bass drum thumping followed by a cascade of cymbals, while “Lonely Train” slowly develops a sense of urgency with a haunting guitar progression. Producers Brian Retzell and Justin Stanley co-wrote “The Sky Above, The Field Below” with the band, but it hardly feels like anything profound as it is little more than a fog of ambient guitar hums and what may or may not be an e-bow.

It should be mentioned that there are a few non-Explosions In The Sky songs on the album as well. Daniel Lanois contributes a southern flavoured instrumental “Sonho Dourado”, while experimental rock-jazz guitarist David Torn’s “Do You Ever Feel Cursed” is as aimless and low key as music gets. The sole vocal track “Seagull” is an old Bad Company song and actually kind of breaks the mood set up by the rest of the score.

While I haven’t seen the movie, I can only guess that the dreamy, introspective score must give this movie a little more artistic flair and authentic sentimentality than your typical sports drama would have. As a soundtrack, I think the music here succeeds admirably. Explosions In The Sky may very well have a career ahead of them in the movie business. Unfortunately, as a stand-alone album, their score is not nearly as interesting and dynamic as their other material.

It’s too bad that this is such a high exposure soundtrack and yet I doubt the music will inspire many listeners to check out any other material from such a compelling band. Interested parties should definitely check out their own albums before looking into this soundtrack as it doesn’t completely represent what the band is capable of. There is still some beautiful instrumental music here but it lacks the energy and complexity that would make it truly noteworthy. — Sean

Around the Web: