MUSIC

HANS ZIMMER'S INTERSTELLAR SCORE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD

but is it art?

By Josiah Lay

Here's an image, but the music

A good film score is somewhat of a chameleon. The best compositions are both unforgettable, while at the same time they hide behind the major elements of a film: narrative, character, and cinematography. As an art form scoring is about blending in and enhancing what’s already there. Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning, 2014 space drama, Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughy and Jessica Chastain, is no exception. While the film itself proved to be quite polarizing in terms of audience reception—due to its confounding plot and rather pat quantum physics inspired ending—the soundtrack was almost universally praised. That isn’t surprising considering Zimmer’s successes in such iconic films as Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, and most recently, Dunkirk.

Yet something about this particular score, comprised of intense, sweeping waves of strings, a rigid, sharp use of synthesizers, and an astonishing deployment of single notes (which considering the overpowering nature of the rest of the score almost feels like silence), powers the Interstellar narrative to a complexity that it might not otherwise deserve. Among the highlights is a track titled, “No Time for Caution”. It is memorable for how we experience an intense scene in which an extremely difficult and critical docking maneuver is performed. In the theaters, audiences were pulled into the gravity of the moment by a symphony of rising strings, bellowing choir phrases, and an iconic, heaving organ progression. The powerful build-up of sound, even separate from the film, carries a palpable range of tension, emotion, and release that left audiences breathless. It is probably the high point of the film.

Does Zimmer's music need the film?

Yet despite this, fans who purchased the movie’s soundtrack were stunned to find that this track initially published under the title, “Day One Dark”, was absent. Instead of the music in the film, “Day one Dark” was a heavily diluted version of the film’s original score, missing the raging choir and the unmistakable howl of organ pipes. The exclusion led to unhappy listeners taking to the Internet to voice their displeasure.

Where was the riveting musical experience that had been so expertly delivered in the film, yet was absent from the soundtrack? How come the cut that was included proved to be merely a shadow of the music in the film? Listeners had become so determined to have their epic sound that even some amateur composers resorted to creating mixes of various Interstellar soundtracks in order to recreate a version true to the film. The mounting onslaught of fan complaints did eventually lead to a remastering and release of the full film version of the musical cue, “No Time for Caution.” However the upheaval caused by this oversight was a spectacle to behold.

I want to examine what exactly people felt they were missing and if Zimmer’s music is in some way radically separate from the film it was intended to score. It is clear that within the film, Nolan makes use of Zimmer’s composition to maximum dramatic effect. However what makes this particular track of interest is its impact beyond the movie, in what can only be described as precise, yet daring composition.

Unnecessary Interstellar Imagery

The track begins with tentative, airy, synth chords. Steadily marching beats join in to supply a percussive foundation. The hits echo in precise step with the song's tempo, staunchly composed to 60 beats per minute, an all too familiar time signature. Yet something about the unwavering pace, borrowed from the tempo of life, elicits a sort of reverence. The fact that the music has an established rhythm and progression distinguishes it from the average movie soundtrack, which is often designed only to mirror what visual elements are already present on screen.

Zimmer’s composition draws from fundamentals that are present in musical arrangements created for the purpose of listening alone, and thus the depth of its emotions extend far beyond the stereotypical background music. Zimmer takes a concept as complex as the passage of time—often taken for granted by our expectation of its continuity—and subtlety brings it into focus by the track’s rigorous, composition. The emphasis of each beat, so fully in tune with the second of time it took to resonate, comments on the passage of time (even still, the time taken to listen to it). The potential for such weighty conceptual exploration elevates this music from ornamental filler to an experience that needs to be listened to on its own terms.

The mighty organ pipes that enter with a vigorous arpeggio are layered above steadily pulsing strings, increasing the internal tension of the track significantly. A sense of urgency is introduced with the rolling chords, as if a thundering storm were rapidly coming closer. While subject to personal interpretation, the fact that the soundtrack conjures an image distinct from its appearance in the film speaks to why fans were so fervent in their desire to hear the real thing. An increasingly common practice in contemporary cinematic music is to simply mirror or reinforce what viewers can already see happening on the screen. “No Time for Caution” breaks this mold in its sense of impending danger and urgency. It might be more nerve rattling than the film. While it definitely constructs an emotional environment parallel to what occurs in the scene, the music rushes forward to overpower the visual instead of simply hiding behind it, commanding the scene and our emotions.

The real artist

After several verses of building tension, the saturated sound gives way to a paced progression, allowing for a soaring lead organ melody to pierce through. It is neither a familiar superhero theme nor a recognizable franchise jingle, but rather a melody that is thoroughly musical and offers no visual correlative. It’s almost as if the music is taking of a life of its own.

When a song is released as part of an album, there is no question of its role as a full listening experience. Yet, many movie soundtracks quickly become inseparable from the scenes they appear in, and many would be simply bland without the accompanying images, leaving them forever chained to whatever film they were meant for.

Zimmer has broken this mold by pushing the limits (in fact, some audience members complained of his music’s loudness in theaters overpowering character dialogue), refusing to take the safe route of simply mirroring the movie, and has emerged with a composition that is a piece of art for its own sake. Thus, all the outcry over the single missing track may be so justified by the fact that audiences were seeking an experience that could not be matched by imagery alone. When it comes to composing great music, it seems, there truly is no time for caution.

©Josiah Lay and the CCA Arts Review