The Rover (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2014 film The Rover directed by David Michôd. The album consisted of cues from the musical score is composed by Australian film and television composer Antony Partos and selections from Sam Petty, Colin Stetson, Matthias Loibner, William Basinski and Tortoise which were mostly compilations of alternative rock, indie pop and electronic. The soundtrack was released through Lakeshore Records on 10 October 2014, four months after the film's release.
| The Rover (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Film score / soundtrack album by various artists | ||||
| Released | 10 October 2014 | |||
| Recorded | 2014 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 61:33 | |||
| Label | Lakeshore | |||
| Producer | Antony Partos | |||
| Antony Partos chronology | ||||
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Development
editIn October 2013, it was announced that Antony Partos, who previously scored Michôd's Animal Kingdom (2010), would compose the score for The Rover.[1] Musician Sam Petty who previously worked with Michôd on Animal Kingdom and Hesher (2010) selected the musical pieces for the film.[2] The music for the film featured contributions from saxophonists Colin Stetson, William Basinski, hurdy-gurdy player Matthias Loibner, and music from post-rock bands and pop artists.
Michôd found that using pieces from saxophonists Stetson and Basinski would help his ideas to examine music in the clearest and easiest ways possible on how it is incorporated into the film in its key sequences. Those pieces were not only used as temp tracks, but an ideal part of the musical fabric he designed. Originally, he also selected "Don't Cha" by The Pussycat Dolls to use in a crucial scene in the film involving Rey (played by Pattinson) but later changed it to "Pretty Girl Rock" by Keri Hilson.[3]
According to Partos, the music was a simpler process than Animal Kingdom, where Petty worked with tonal based textures that would streamline the process for the film; he would send temp mixes and individual sounds to Petty so that the musical palette could be established much earlier.[3] He was tasked to build the love and trust between the two main characters irrespective of their circumstances, adding that "there is a subtle yet tangible shift that develops two thirds of the way through the story and the score does change in this regard to become more harmonically based compared to the textures that are present in the first half of the film."[3]
Partos recorded the bass and baritones at the usual register, while also played the harmonics and notes at their extreme high end. He would manipulate those elements octaves below or higher than the original pitch that would create a "somehow tender but simultaneously alien" mood, which was similarly evoked through bass, Irish whistles and strings.[3] The strings were recorded individually and combined with the "bastardized custom made violins" with strings which could play in either viola or cello pitch as well as electric violin, so that it would create a mood which was "subtly emotional but somehow unfamiliar and lonely."[3]
Release
editThe soundtrack album was not released along with the film, although few tracks were published on an IndieWire article after the premiere in 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[4][5] On 24 September 2014, Lakeshore Records announced the film's soundtrack and released in a digital format on 10 October 2014, followed by a physical release on 14 November 2014.[6][7]
Reception
editScott Foundas of Variety wrote that Partos' original score "immeasurably enhanced the mood" and "compensates for the film’s spare dialogue with an inspired mix of industrial shrieks, tribal drumbeats and wails, and fleeting snatches of melody. The rich soundscape is further enhanced by sound designer Sam Petty’s crisply recorded and mixed effects, which bring every humming electric light, chirping cricket and whirring engine to the fore."[8] Jonathan Romney of The Guardian wrote "Antony Partos's score features guitar that veer from grungy metallic rasp to a baleful, distant dead clang, and Sam Petty's sound design – insects, raspy motors, the death-rattle crunch of gravel – is meshed in wonderfully."[9] Julian Roman of MovieWeb wrote " The score by Antony Partos also adds to the deeply unsettling nature of this film."[10]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it as an "extraordinary soundtrack, which, in its wild, idiosyncratic weirdness, is probably the most effectively eccentric and radical film score since Jonny Greenwood's for There Will Be Blood. Composed by Australian Antony Partos, with heavy contributions from sound designer and additional composer Sam Petty and existing source music, the track moans, cracks and wails with bizarre audible elements that blur the line between music and natural sounds and emanate from instruments both identifiable and not. The effect is both hypnotic and disturbing, pertinent to what’s onscreen and out of nowhere. In all events, it magnifies and enhances the already intense nature of the experience."[11]
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called it as a "harsh, dissonant electronic score",[12] while Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times described it as "ominous" and "disquieting".[13] Kiya Reardon of The Globe and Mail wrote "Antony Partos's subtle score and a soundtrack featuring the ambient rhythms of the post-punk group Tortoise add to the eerie, threatening tone."[14]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Four Day Interval" | Tortoise | 4:44 |
| 2. | "Arrival" | Antony Partos | 2:36 |
| 3. | "(No) Vacancy" | Sam Petty | 4:32 |
| 4. | "Crossfire" | Sam Petty | 2:47 |
| 5. | "Campfire" | Antony Partos | 2:21 |
| 6. | "Groundswell" | Colin Stetson | 1:40 |
| 7. | "Pit Stop" | Antony Partos | 1:53 |
| 8. | "Deja-Vu" | Sam Petty | 3:40 |
| 9. | "Homecoming" | Antony Partos | 3:51 |
| 10. | "Bonfire" | Antony Partos | 4:15 |
| 11. | "Crystal Waters" | Matthias Loibner | 3:55 |
| 12. | "Two Themes for Rey" | Sam Petty | 1:16 |
| 13. | "Motel" | Antony Partos | 2:54 |
| 14. | "Variation VI" | William Basinski | 9:18 |
| 15. | "Variation V" | William Basinski | 15:11 |
| Total length: | 61:33 | ||
Additional music
edit| # | Title | Artist(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Meak Mer Nov Odor Meanchhey" | Savy Heng and James Cecil |
| 2 | "Backpack" | Gabby La La |
| 3 | "Trilogy – The Three Ages of Man: Memories" | Frances-Marie Uitti |
| 4 | "Time is Advancing with Fitful Irregularity" | Colin Stetson |
| 5 | "As a Bird or Branch" | Colin Stetson |
| 6 | "Awake on Foreign Shores" | Colin Stetson |
| 7 | "Ko–Tha–Three Dances Of Shiva: Transcription For Double Bass By Fernando Grillo – I" | Robert Black |
| 8 | "Do I Worry?" | The Ink Spots |
| 9 | "Djed" | Tortoise |
| 10 | "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" | Pattie Rosemon with Frank and Odie Rosemon |
| 11 | "Pretty Girl Rock" | Keri Hilson |
| 12 | "Gone" | Clearside (featured in the first trailer)[15] |
Accolades
edit| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | AACTA Awards (4th) | Best Original Music Score | Antony Partos | Nominated[16] |
| Sam Petty | Nominated[16] | |||
| Best Sound | Won[17] | |||
| Des Kenneally | Won[17] | |||
| Justine Angus | Won[17] | |||
| Brooke Trezise | Won[17] | |||
| Francis Ward Lindsay | Won[17] | |||
| Robert Mackenzie | Won[17] | |||
| Australian Screen Sound Guild Awards | Best Film Sound Recording | Des Kenneally | Won[18] | |
| Marco Arlotta | Won[18] | |||
| Rob Nokes | Won[18] | |||
| 2015 | Film Critics Circle of Australia | Best Music Score | Antony Partos | Nominated[19] |
References
edit- ^ "Antony Partos Scoring David Michod's 'The Rover'". 15 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
- ^ "Listen: Tracks From 'The Rover' Soundtrack Including Tortoise, Colin Stetson, William Basinski & More". 23 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Hasty, Katie (27 June 2014). "Stream 'The Rover' score, plus a Q&A with David Michôd and Antony Partos: Exclusive". Hitfix. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
- ^ "The Rover Soundtrack Album Coming Soon On Lakeshore Records, Film Starring Guy Pearce & Robert Pattinson In Theaters Now". Film Music Daily. 25 August 2014. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
- ^ Davis, Edward (23 May 2014). "Listen: Tracks From 'The Rover' Soundtrack Including Tortoise, Colin Stetson, William Basinski & More". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ "'The Rover' Soundtrack Finally Scores A Release With Music By Antony Partos, Sam Petty, Tortoise & More". 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "'The Rover' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ Foundas, Scott (17 May 2014). "Film Review: 'The Rover'". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Romney, Jonathan (17 August 2014). "The Rover review – 'an honourable misfire' of a dystopian drama". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Roman, Julian (19 June 2014). "The Rover Review". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ McCarthy, Todd (17 May 2014). "'The Rover': Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Hornaday, Ann (20 June 2014). "'The Rover' movie review". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Turan, Kenneth (12 June 2014). "Review: A car theft drives the chilling, intense 'The Rover'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Reardon, Kiya (20 June 2014). "The Rover doesn't feel worth the journey". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ "The Rover Trailer". Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ^ a b "4th AACTA Awards Nominees" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "AACTA awards: The Water Diviner and The Babadook share best film honours". Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Announced: The 2014 ASSG Award Winners". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
- ^ "Nominations for the 2015 AFCA Film Awards". Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2014.