The Last Great Wilderness
is the
soundtrack
to the movie of the same name.
The Pastels
provide background music and two songs.
Pastels
diehards might be disappointed at the lack of vocals (and the fact that one of the two songs, a lilting cover of
Sly & the Family Stone
's
"Everybody Is a Star,"
is recycled from the
Geographic
label compilation from 2002) but will still be pleased at the typically affecting sounds found within. The background pieces are mostly short and very atmospheric, showing that the group has a firm grasp on the art of
film music
composition. Three of the songs (
"Winter Driving,"
"Flora's Theme,"
and
"Flora Again"
) are brief fragments of eerie vocal loops and bells, while the rest of the pieces are longer and quite nice:
"Wilderness Theme"
(and
"Wilderness End Theme"
) is a beautiful chiming song full of bells, horns, and wheezing synths,
"Vincente's Theme"
is a dramatic
ballad
with a haunting trumpet solo, and
"Charlie's Theme
is built around humming synth noise, reverbed piano, and gently plucked guitars. Along with the wonderful cover of
the other "song" here is
"I Picked a Flower,"
featuring the vocals and songwriting acumen of
Jarvis Cocker
. The song is a bopping, ultra-poppy slice of sunshine that features some typically sleazy
Cocker
lyrics.
is not an essential
purchase by any means, but it is a nice stopgap between albums and more importantly a solid stab at
composition. ~ Tim Sendra