3 out of 5

Label: Varèse Sarabande

Produced by: Ramin Djawadi

Besides composing for every TV show ever, half the AAA video games, and 1/3rd of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, loved / lauded Hans Zimmer underling Ramin Djawadi did some time in the trenches on a couple random smaller flicks and  seemingly partnering up with also-fans kids-flick makers nWave Pictures to score some of their output, such as Fly Me To the Moon, a movie about bugs in space which can boast about being the first 3D animated film, having Buzz Aldrin in the voice cast, and a 19% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

So the film caliber may not be aces, but the score isn’t bad.  As a kid’s film, it hits the kind of heroic / jokey / wistful elements you can auto-write scenes to – especially given track names like Lift Off (heroic) and I Did It Grandpa (wistful), and especially especially the Blue Danube riff which is designed for any given cute exploratory sequence in a kids flick, ready made for, presumably, bugs’ first float in space.  And while those predictable elements cover the album’s primary plot points, as the opening hopeful cue – which gets reused during the three part ‘Phase’ tracks, which describe characters sneaking onto a space shuttle – and the Grandpa reflective cue, assumedly used during emotional moments, Djawadi is ever at his best when he can bring in an element of pop or rock or just get a little experimental.  Energetic entries like Saving the Mission are actually pretty thrilling, and a bit more layered than could’ve been expected from a low budget flick, and the interesting use of accordion and glockenspiel dot the Russian-themed tracks (the movie plays off of the Soviet / American space race), sometimes playful, sometimes sad.  The score ends up being relatively split between these tracks of interest and the more generic ones, and due to Djawadi’s habit of composing songs and not just cues, that definitely makes it viable as a front-to-back listen.

Production-wise, as harped on in this review, the cookie cutter Zimmer Remote Control production house renders the string / horn instrumentation pretty flat.  But again, when some percussion or other instruments come in, the recording feels a bit more organic.

Better than I expected.