so, here’s a confession: i am a sucker for soundtracks.

i actually have a lot of them in my vast music collection. there’s something about an instrumental that really appeals to me, especially when i need a good backdrop to writing, reading or something else that i don’t need my entire focus taken off of. and soundtracks nicely encapsulate a movie and then take on a life of their own when they come out of your own set of speakers.

i recently got a chance to listen to the contradictory and complicated soundtrack to another earth, a science fiction movie that took a number of awards at sundance. i say contradictory and complicated because, on many levels, a number of the songs have a very futuristic slant to them (would you expect anything else from pieces entitled the first time i saw jupiter or the cosmonaut?) and yet there are others that have a very stately, quiet old feel to them, like they’d been played in concert halls in the 19th century (such as the love theme and the house theme). what’s interesting, though, is that this works for the album – all the songs mesh together like a mix-matched quilt to form an overview of sadness, tentativeness and the hint of wonder and redemption.

the band behind the soundtrack, fall on your sword, is the new project from LCD soundstystem founding member and ocean’s eleven soundtrack co-composer philip mossman and and will bates, an award winning composer.

with that in mind, have a listen to the very atmospheric rhoda’s theme:

(mp3) rhoda’s theme by fall on your sword (via IFC)

and here’s the video for the very futuristic the first time i saw jupiter:

in case you’re interested, here’s the trailer for the movie:

buy the soundtrack for another earth by fall on your sword HERE.