Birth [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Soundtrack]

Music for the small hours of the night, grabs you to another world, enchanting and powerful.

I FINALLY got my CD in the mail from Amazon and it had been about a month since I'd actually seen the film (maybe longer) and as soon as it cued up and began to play, it was uncannily just as etherial and eerie sounding as it was the first time. I have a handful of music scores I listen to quite often (Gladiator, Jaws, American Beauty), but this one has quickly become my favorite. The two pieces "The Wedding" and "Elegy" are the ones I find myself listening to over and over. "The Kiss" and "Mr. Reincarnation" are right behind. I find myself falling asleep each night listening to this score on my Dell DJ and on those nights my battery is too low to run the player and has to recharge, I certainly miss the eerie lullabies. I think this score made the movie.....it set the mood and kept it in a somber and internalizing place. I am looking forward to hearing more of Alexandre Desplat's work.....most definately.

I don't know a thing about reviewing film scores. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I haven't a clue what any of the instruments are, so identifying one I like within a track is completely out of the question. The most I can do is point out that in my review of the film, I state that the opening sequence of it is the most beautiful piece of film I've ever seen, mostly because of the score going on behind it. Based on that one piece of music, Prologue, I bought the score after watching the movie for a second time.

What I'm surprised by, though, is that the piece of music I bought the score for is actually the weakest when taken out of the film. Prologue , when taken away from the gorgeous film accompanying it in the beginning of the movie, is actually not the best piece on the album. The rest of the score, however, shines brilliantly when taken out of the film. It's not often that I find myself sitting down listening to a score, most of the time I'll get bored of them, music needs vocals for me, but this score is different. There's something undeniably beautiful and brilliant about it, so full of life that it doesn't need the film to go along with it. Based on how I felt the second time I saw Birth, I'd have to say that I prefer the score by itself to how it sounds within the film.

If you consider yourself a fan of music in any way, I would recommend that you give this a listen. It's one of the most unique and hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I've heard in a very long time. I don't know how Alexandre Desplat came up with it all, it's more then my mind could even begin to comprehend.