Clint Mansell – Moon (Original Soundtrack)

There is something very surprising about the career trajectory of former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman Clint Mansell. Sure, it’s not like Robert Smith joining the Bee-Gees, or Morrissey getting a job in a burger van, but its still unpredicted. There is also something rather joyous about his serendipity. It began with Darren Aronofsky’s PI, the director knowing nothing of Clint’s Poppie past. A recent interview in The Times states that when Aronofsky visited Mansell’s hometown of Stourbridge one Christmas, he was shown a bunch of PWEI videos by Clint’s father. Sat there, full of Birmingham booze and a lop-sided cracker hat, I can imagine that it was quite an eye-opener.And you know, he probably quite enjoyed watching them, because Pop Will Eat Itself were terrific. And now, some two decades later, Mansell is everywhere. Talent show judges have to walk down some stairs to the main theme from Requiem to a Dream or it somehow doesn’t look right. And now the much acclaimed soundtrack to The Fountain is starting to become just as ubiquitous. Whole episodes of Top Gear are soundtracked by the dramatic, twitchy strings of 'Tree of Life', the crowning moment of that album.Moon is a more sombre affair. I have no idea if the music matches the images, not having seen the film, but as is often the case in Mansell’s music there are buckets of atmosphere. The main theme is driven by a simple, two note piano sequence, drenched in reverb. The piano on 'Memories' sounds leaden, as if played in one sixth gravity, the hammers thudding with a heavy heart into the strings. The repetitive piano of the main theme is the sound of industry, the clatter of drums curiously out of whack, a heartbeat behind the melody.The second half of the album is where the melancholy really steps in, 'The Nursery' embodied by a groaning cello. The strings are provided by The Kronos Quartet, who worked with Mansell before on Requiem for a Dream, steering from frenzied activity on 'Sacrifice' to the sweeping, lunar melodies of the rest of the album. 'We’re Going Home' encapsulates the entire feel, in its understated opening to its rush of piano and percussion.Mansell’s work just keeps on getting better and better. His soundtracks are simplistic at times, and do often rely on repetition and gentle structures, but here he captures a mood that is other-worldly, mysterious without being overtly sinister. Mansell can hold his head up high against his peers, proud of his past, and confident of his future. 79%Clint Mansell on MySpace