Album Review: Explosions In The Sky - 'Prince Avalanche: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

When listening to Explosions In The Sky's records it's easy to see why the band would gravitate towards the world of soundtracks (They killed it on the TV series Friday Night Lights), their dreamy and experimental instrumentals were already the perfect companion to some visuals, they just didn't have any.

But, now they do, Prince Avalanche, and American remake of an Icelandic film about two guys painting traffic lines and forming a friendship. Sounds deep. The perfect film for some atmospheric post-rock.

The group teamed up with David Wingo, a film composer whose main role here has been to settle the heavier aspects of the band down to a fair half-way mark for the film. While this sounds like a watered down version of the group's music is on offer, this is far from the case, instead, the melodic and intricate aspects of EITS's music is given new attention and life.

There is even a little more colour than usual in tracks like 'Send Off', which includes instrumentation such as trumpets or the occasional banjo set in amongst the gentle drum patterns and driving guitars. As with most soundtracks there are plenty of short musical pieces that really only exist to support the visual, such as 'Fires', which no doubt makes sense in the film, but does little to inspire repeated plays on the record itself.

This is one area where the soundtrack falls unexpectedly flat, where you would think there is a cohesive piece of music throughout the tracks (it's telling a story after all) things seem a little disjointed, almost as if it relies too heavy on the imagery of the film to make sense.

For the most part however this feels like a light-hearted version of an EITS record and is still very enjoyable due to the extra nuances that the feel of the film has obviously allowed. It's good to see a band that is already willing to push boundaries spread their wings even further.

Without seeing Prince Avalanche, the soundtrack scores a thumbs up as it is essentially just another Explosions In The Sky record, and a good one at that, due to the new dynamics and flavours on offer.

1. Fires

2. Theme From Prince Avalanche

3. Dear Madison

4. Passing Time

5. Rain

6. Alone Time

7. Hello, Is This Your House?

8. Can’t We Just Listen To The Silence

9. Wading

10. Dear Alvin

11. The Lines On The Road That Lead You Back Home

12. An Old Peasant Like Me

13. Join Me On My Avalanche

14. The Adventures Of Alvin and Lance

15. Send Off