Arcade Fire & Owen Pallett
Her [Reissue]
MILAN
7/10
Flash back to 2013: You’ve just entered the movie theater, popcorn in one hand a Coke in the other, to watch the movie Her. Throughout the film, you notice how elegant and alluring the soundtrack is. Fast forward to 2021 and, Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett have finally released that original score for the Spike Jonze film, both digitally and on vinyl. “There is a mysterious alchemy in the way sound and picture work together, notes and moods shifting and reacting to one another like a kaleidoscope,” Arcade Fire’s Win Butler shared. “And even in the absence of visuals, the emotional landscape still remains. We hope you have a moment of stillness to get lost in the music as we did writing and recording it.”
Though it was nominated for Best Original Score at the 2014 Oscars, the 13-track score had never been properly released until this month, with new original artwork. Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett came together and created an elegant score for the film, capturing its softness and overarching feeling of love. The score does not include any vocals, but lets each ballad speak for itself.
Loneliness is prevalent throughout each song, and through every chord you can feel the ache for love, life, and purpose. As you wade through the deep undertones of each “Milk & Honey” track, you can feel the confusion of being lost in love, and deeper questioning of how everything works. Ending the album with “Dimensions” highlights to listeners through its gentle tones that we are multi-faceted as humans, and each on our own journeys to gather insight into who we are, and who we will be. Thus, Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett hit the nail on the head for Her; their alluring ballads encapsulate the softness of the film, and the individual song titles provide you with room for introspection.
