The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Soundtrack)

i love wes anderson movies. he's one of my favorite directors. he also does a bang-up job when it comes to compiling soundtracks for his movies. every aspect of his movies is meticulously calculated, and this includes the soundtrack. each musical cue serves a purpose, and becomes just as powerful as the cinematography, stages, and acting. in a way, the music of his movies has its own narrative. powerful imagery coupled with powerful music makes a movie multi-dimensional, and w.a. understands this.

the most commonly discussed feature of this soundtrack is the performance of David Bowie songs by Seu Jorge, sung entirely in portugese and with only acoustic guitar for accompaniment. these tracks are other-worldly. nonetheless, it's been overdone. so i'll leave it at that.

wes anderson has a partner in crime, mark mothersbaugh. i don't know much about him, though i believe i've read at least one interview with the fellow. he's also prominent on the rushmore soundtrack. he composes the instrumental pieces that are scattered throughout the album. his composing is exquisite, and upon hearing it you are immediately familiar with what scene it goes with in the movie. that's quite a feat.

by talking about the other choices of songs on this album, i'd be even more redundant than i already am. i love this album. it's got bowie, joan baez, iggy, and devo. the glaring omission on the album is the absence of sigur ros. sigur ros' song "Starálfur" (that's right, i said it) is used in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie, and it isn't credited at all with a slot on the official soundtrack. that's the one disappointing note on an otherwise exemplary soundtrack, on par with tom waits' "goin' out west" not making it onto the fight club soundtrack. alas, no one is perfect.