4 out of 5

Label: Lakeshore Records

Produced by: Ramin Djawadi

Ramin Djawadi’s range is already clear on his big budget soundtracks, demonstrating proficiency in the bombast that might accompany a big action sequence, but also displaying an appreciation for quiet and subtlety, making linking score material just as rewarding as themes.  Recently, with Westworld, he got to play it even more delicately, reworking recognizable tunes to old-timey piano arrangements, winding those tracks around songs that embrace the mercurial mood of the show.

The Mountain Between Us finds something of a fascinating middleground amongst his TV / movie works of the past – wow – decade or so, combining a relative lushness of sound with a very moving and subtle sense of composition; almost every piece from the 20-track set is precise and yet open-ended, stumbling between nigh-crescendos of cascading piano and string scales, trading off focus on a seeming whim that nonetheless belies a purposeful building toward whatever slowburn was happening on screen.

…Not that what’s on screen matters, per se, regarding the music itself: the movie in my head is tense and sad, pockets of hope that tumble into moments of loss.  The opening title track is one of the most haunting, affecting things Ramin has written, and its climbing and descending themes pop up throughout the score, arrived at through a myriad of impressively subtle variations.  Playing in a more downbeat register, though, the linking material isn’t quite as strong as it is on other Ramin scores, quite blending in to the background, and the one outburst of action – on Flare Gun – seems incredibly out of place.

Otherwise, The Mountain Between Us is another rewarding Djawadi score, bolstered by a very emotional core, despite not having a rousing blockbuster theme to fall back on.