5 out of 5

Label: Barclay

Produced by: François De Roubaix (composed by, directed by, orchestrated by)

A compilation of selections from the prolific François de Roubaix’s many film scores, showing off the artist’s range from pastoral, folksy tunes, to electronic-tinged funk, to fully orchestrated swells.

With approximately half of the tunes here being film themes – as opposed to spot scoring – there’s a nice balance of anthemic and more passive compositions; similarly, there’s attention to paid to sequencing, purposefully stepping off of a chronological path to guide us from more laid back strolls like opener Clara to the back half of the A-side getting increasingly electronic (as on Pour Un Sourire), the B-side then initially more blown out and bombastic before the music gets slightly weirder and more esoteric.

For those without a grounding in de Roubaix, this is actually an excellent mix: the A-side dabbles in familiarity (a 60s / 70s “grooviness”; some French jazz) but, as typical of the artist, avoids becoming generic or cheesy by steering the music either towards something more restrained, or bringing in odd timings or sudden instrumentation that are wholly unpredictable but seem perfectly matched to the tune. The B-side then kind of embraces that by going big and cinematic but with the same exceptions, providing a concise, top-down view of not only several of de Roubaix’s styles but also showing how consistently beautiful and fun his work was across his few years of composing.

While the set does avoid anything that’s maybe more fully on the experimental side, I wouldn’t have considered that a goal: it’s meant to boil down to some of de Roubaix’s best film moments, and while there are many, it makes an excellent case for this particular set.