Record Label: Lakeshore Records
Genre: Film Score
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To The Wonder is the latest movie from artsy fartsy director Terrence Malik. I’m hit or miss when it comes to Malik’s movies. I love The Thin Red Line and New World but don’t really care for the other films of his (or haven’t seen them yet). To The Wonder stars Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. To The Wonder is about an American man reconnecting with an old girlfriend after his European relationship falls apart.

I never heard of Hanan Townshend before but I guess he composed Malik’s previous movie Tree of Life. I haven’t heard that score yet but To The Wonder score is beautiful. You would think the film score in a Malik movie HAS to be beautiful. To The Wonder score definitely has that minimalist sound but it’s beautifully haunting. Haunting not in the sense that it’s scary or anything, but the way the tracks are composed. Long stretches of notes, strings that slowly make a sound in the background. It’s hard to describe but I’m digging the music for this. To mix things up, there’s some classical pieces thrown in here from Wagner and Bach. The track “Awareness The Train” uses sound effects from trains into the track and think it’s effective. I guess the screeching strings is the main theme for this movie? It kind of feels like something Jonny Greenwood would do.

I think some people will love this score from Townshend, and others will probably hate it. I actually really liked this score and looking forward to seeing this movie now just because of the music.

Bottom Line: A beautiful haunting film score
Notable Tracks: Awareness, Marina’s Theme – The Wildflowers, BWV No. 142 “Uns ist ein Kind Geboren”, The Bison, Marina’s Theme – Overture
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