(2020) Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste - Soul


Review:
The soundtrack to Pixar’s new animated master- piece Soul is, essentially, two scores in one. On the one hand, you’ve got music by New Orleans artist Jon Batiste (known as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert). His contributions are mostly peppy jazz, ranging from the solo piano reverie of “Born to Play Reprise” to the horn-fuelled strut of “Feel Soul Good.” Appearing as diegetic sound in Soul — most often performed by the film’s lead character, a middle school band teacher named Joe — this lively jazz represents the earthly world in the film’s exploration of a soul’s journey. Representing the spiritual realm, the other half of the soundtrack goes to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The mood-setting Nine Inch Nails duo brilliantly capture the film’s psychedelic depiction of the afterlife (and the before-life) with twinkling electronic soundscapes that range from ominously sublime ambience (“The Great Beyond”) to bubbly and serene (“Portal/The Hall of Everything”). With gently thudding beats and major key pads, Reznor and Ross give their contributions a soothing new age feel that recalls their work on Mid90s or Gone Girl, rather than their more ominous and industrial sound design on Watchmen or Bird Box. Things do get a little harsh and eerie on “Lost Soul,” but their work here is mostly sweet and pretty enough to be appropriate for a family film. The score also features a goofy hip-hop interlude from Daveed Diggs (“Rappin Ced”) and a folk-soul ballad by Cody Chesnutt (“Parting Ways”). These aren’t bad, exactly, but they add a sense of scattered incoherence to an album that, with 42 songs and a runtime of barely more than hour, already moves at a frantic pace. Soul might have flowed better had it been divvied up into two distinct haves — one side for Batiste and another for Reznor and Ross — rather than bouncing back and forth between the two styles; many streaming listeners are probably already creating their own playlists for which half they like best. The best moments of all come when Reznor and Ross successfully blur the lines between the score’s two distinct styles: “Earthbound” and the gorgeous “Epiphany” are hypnotic piano meditations, and “Pursuit” begins as jittery jazz before melting into spooky electronic pulses. While Soul‘s ultra-short track lengths make it feel a little underdeveloped as a stand-alone soundtrack, it makes a strong calling card for the beautifully scored film.





Tracklist:
01. Jon Batiste - Born to Play
02. Jon Batiste - Born to Play Reprise
03. Jon Batiste - Bigger Than Us38. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Earthbound
04. Jon Batiste - Collard Greens and Cornbread Strut
05. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Great Beyond
06. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Falling
07. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Great Before/U Seminar
08. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Jump to Earth
09. Daveed Diggs - Rappin Ced
10. Jon Batiste - Joe's Lowdown Blues
11. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Terry Time
12. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Joe's Life
13. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Portal/The Hall of Everything
14. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Run/Astral Plane
15. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Lost Soul
16. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Meditation/Return to Earth
17. Jon Batiste - 22's Getaway
18. Jon Batiste - Apex Wedge
19. Jon Batiste - Let Your Soul Glow
20. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Terry Time Too
21. Jon Batiste - Feel Soul Good
22. Cody Chesnutt - Parting Ways
23. Jon Batiste - Looking at Life
24. Jon Batiste - Fruit of the Vine
25. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - 22 Is Ready
26. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Pursuit/Terry's World
27. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Betrayal
28. Jon Batiste - Space Maker
29. Jon Batiste - Cristo Redentor
30. Jon Batiste - The Epic Conversationalist/Born to Play
31. Jon Batiste - Celestial Spaces in Blue
32. Jon Batiste - Spiritual Connection
33. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Lost
34. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Epiphany
35. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Ship Chase
36. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Escape/Inside 22
37. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Flashback
38. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Earthbound
39. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Thank You
40. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Enjoy Every Minute
41. Jon Batiste - It's All Right
42. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Just Us
43. JuJu - Kiseki Wo Nozomunara ... (soulful world ver.)
44. Subaru Kimura - Rappin Ced
45. Eito - Parting Ways


Media Report:
Genre: original soundtrack
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits