The Odyssey, Dune, and Project Hail Mary

How do you create something new and still relatable to a modern in telling a story musically? What is the purpose of the Score? When you are telling a story which deals with new worlds, aliens, or ancient gods and monsters, do you ground it in a familiar soundscape or create new ones? 

In the past few years, several films have come out with scores that expand the normal structure of either using modern instruments or electronics in creating or recreating instruments and sounds from real objects and not just on the computer or manipulating them into something completely different. While these may be manipulated within software, they come from specific storytelling reasons and are very effective within the movie. But it does raise a question: if it works effectively in the movie, is that enough? 

Throughout the 20th and 21st century, there are pieces that I can applaud for the composer's creativity and effectiveness but do I actually enjoy listening to it? Is that necessary to be a good soundtrack? I feel like I'm back in college: what is music? Do you need a melody or a motif? Should music tell a story narratively and/or emotionally? Does it create a soundscape for this specific world? Do I like the music if I separate it from the film for which it was created? 

My freshman roommate in college loved two albums and played them nonstop. One of these was "The Mission" by Ennio Morricone. While it would be another decade before I would see the movie, I fell in love with the music especially Gabriel's Oboe as well as Falls. It moved me without knowing why. Once I had a greater understanding in seeing the film, it increased my appreciation and filled in gaps. I don't need to see Indiana Jones...I know who he is by listening to John Williams and the same is true for Darth Vader in Star Wars. They work together but the music can stand alone. I realize that I may be a bit old-fashioned and slightly biased as a cellist but in general, I like melody and memorable motifs that can hook me throughout.

I love well-thought creativity which combines both the music and the story which is why I focus so much on Austen adaptations because the majority of them have both beautiful music and a world that I love. The Lord of the Rings is another amazing example of memorable melodies with incredible creativity and soundscapes in world building and telling a story. For a lot of movies, especially Christopher Nolan movies over the past decade or so, there is a new move for creative sounds, reinventing instruments, and feeling emotions but not necessarily having a melody. I want to compare the good and frustrating parts of the Odyssey, Dune, and Project Hail Mary that create a world beyond ours.

Dune
It is often said that Hans Zimmer has had two different kinds of music: before and after Christopher Nolan. That's not entirely accurate as there is a lot of overlap in the 2000s between movies with sweeping melodies and more layered minimalism with motifs that really helped shape a new generation of music in films, TV, and trailers. One thing that has stayed consistent is Zimmer's exploration of sounds and rhythms while emotionally telling a story. This really comes to the forefront of Dune as Zimmer decided to create new instruments for this film set in the future on alien planets. The score combines old and new in Zimmer style: orchestra and electric guitar, synths and voices as well as these new instruments. The other style that developed especially with Nolan's films is the overlap of score and sound design. This really can be felt in the theater with the bass and percussion with the sand worms or the ornithopters. His music works very effectively in the film with specific motifs and sounds for the Fremen, Bene Gesserit, the sand worm and more. I can hear specific voices and chord changes that are specific for the sound of Dune and take me into that world. In that regard, it fulfills everything it needs to. Zimmer creates a soundscape for Dune, the cultures, and people. A specific voice for one culture, bagpipes for another, and always an electric guitar, he tells you a lot musically about whom you are seeing and what is happening.

That being said, it's not a soundtrack that I want to listen to on a regular basis. Part of that may be do to the tragic nature of the story. It's dark without a lot of true hope although there are moments of prophecy and victory reflected in the music. I have certain tracks that I really like such as Herald of the Change. I can appreciate Hans Zimmer's passion, artistry, and creativity. But a lot of it is dark, atmospheric, and sounds the same within a specific track. The instruments that are new also remind me of old instruments which takes us to The Odyssey.

The Odyssey
Everything that is new was also old. One of the things that I appreciate about both directors of Dune and The Odyssey is the time to create music from the beginning. Both composers had time to develop musical ideas and sounds instead of the normal crunched time once the film is completed. Nolan wanted old instruments to take us to Greece while sounding modern at the same time which worked really well for Ludwig Goransson who loves to be creative in unusual sounds and cultures in his scores. Using the aulos, an Ancient Greek instrument reconstructed since it is no longer played that sounds like a duduk which is a Middle Eastern oboe, as well as the lyre which is a precursor to the harp is really exciting. Percussion were created using bronze for the Bronze Age. If you are ever in Phoenix Arizona, you should see the Museum of Musical Instruments. You can see instruments from every continent and culture...and all the similarities. Almost every one has a version of a flute, an instrument that can be played with a string, and percussion made out of the materials you have whether it is a vegetable, metal, or wood. As we become more and more global in the past decades, these sounds become more familiar and used in soundtracks more frequently. The Japanese Haiku drums are used in Battlestar Galactica and The Odyssey. The lyre sounds like the harp and occasionally used as a guitar. The instruments that Hans Zimmer created in many ways resemble the old instruments recreated for the Odyssey. Which ironically, leads to a lot of similarities in sound between the two scores even though the films are set in different places and different times. 

Often the greatest creative ideas are also the weak points as well. In limiting to the old and very new in synths and electronic bass, there are only four colors in this film which can start to feel the same. Like Dune, I greatly appreciate specific tracks or moments. My mind appreciates the electronic use for monsters such as the cyclops or being turned to pigs by Circe as they are very effective. The modern blending of the aural tradition of songs combined with spoken poetry was very effective for bookends in the story. I like the aulos for home and Ithaca as well as the lyre amplified as the bow resonating throughout the story. My favorite part were the voices that reflect humanity which is true in all three of these films. The most poignant moments are the voices grieving after Odysseus and his men run back to their ships, losing friends and comrades as they flee the Laestrygonians and Hades. This is a gifted talent of Ludwig Goransson that works really well and actually reminded me of the grieving music in the second Black Panther movie. The voices also return with the aulos motif at the end, providing comfort instead of a mourning sound, providing hope for Odysseus and Penelope at the end. 

That being said, I can't listen to all of the soundtrack in one go much like Dune. It works really well for the film but I did feel like my mind could appreciate it more than my heart. It told the story really well and you could feel the worlds, the islands, the horror of battle, the waiting of Penelope and Telemachus. Like Dune, it created a world that felt both foreign and familiar. However, music is very subjective as well as objective. For myself, there are two areas that didn't connect for me. There are very few if any melodies in Nolan's films. There are amazing color and ideas that can inspire and help to tell amazing stories but because of the way he builds his stories, there are rarely any sweeping memorable melodies. While each place is unique, the colors are similar enough in the Odyssey that they don't stand out. While that creates a great sense of continuity in this world, it makes it less interesting to have on the background and requires more active listening. My Dad described it as everything remaining blue. While I think the electronics worked well for the other worldly aspects or battles, it felt cold for more intimate moments between characters especially when it sounded similar to a string pad. Just use strings or brass to add warmth and color! The other thing that I had problems with were the increased rhythm and percussion during the battles. I know this was used in Dunkirk as well and something that Nolan likes. The music was relentless and kept the tension going but also started to give me both anxiety but also feeling bored musically. I needed a release and then a change to help me stay in the movie especially with the last fight scene instead of having something similar for two minutes straight. That ironically took me out of two very dramatic scenes. I think having more instruments in the orchestra could have helped provide more color change while still maintaining that intensity. As a side note, the tracks Troy and Vengeance are not the things to listen to while driving in Chicagoland traffic.

Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary is the other movie that came out this past year featuring both the familiar and the otherworldly with astronauts and humanity mixed with space and aliens. Daniel Pemberton also created a new instrument or sound based on a leaking pipe and hitting water in bowls which he manipulated to create different tones, adding something unique to this soundscape.  His design was to combine the organic with metallic to help create otherworldly sounds. Like Dune and the Odyssey, he uses percussion and electronics especially when engaging with Rocky and his ship such as the track Erratic Maneuver Detected. There are a lot of manipulated sounds to help with the alien nature and the unknown that reflects what is different from us. There is a repeated nature to motifs and textures in a similar minimalistic tendency to add tension and layering in tense or atmospheric moments which is pretty typical in a lot of films. He also uses voices pretty frequently especially choir. But the voices in this film are primarily used to represent the goodness of humanity, not the danger of prophecy or mourning, which gives a sense of hope and joy throughout the film as well as a reminder of why Ryder is on the mission in more perilous situations. This color plus some ethereal sounds of the organ and higher electronics instead of the heavy bass, provides hope and humor in contrast to the dark worlds of Dune and The Odyssey. Interestingly, there are aspects that remind me of Interstellar by Hans Zimmer in the colors for being in space with the awe and wonder, both in the high electronics and the low brass. Like the other two soundtracks, it fulfills its purpose to both tell a story of survival and friendship as well as taking you on the emotional journey of loneliness for Ryder being the only one on the ship, to the danger of dying, to the joy of succeeding, to the vocal reminder of why this mission is occurring. On top of that, there is a melody introduced at the beginning of the film that is sung and played throughout for humanity and overcoming odds. When this is sung by a soprano voice in the middle of A Moment, it lifts the heart in what is the most awe-inspiring moment visually for the audience and Ryder. The score is very creative and varied in the colors both electronically, vocally, and orchestrally and because it has these variety of colors in the story emotionally as well, it makes it more enjoyable more me to listen to as a soundtrack on its own. 

Which takes us back to the original question. What makes a good soundtrack? The main purpose is help tell the story that is envisioned by the director. To create a world that invites you in and experience with the characters. All three of these do that very well. I can hear the feuding families and worlds of Dune, feel the terror and grief of the Odyssey, and the overcoming of obstacles in Project Hail Mary. They all fulfill their purpose of world building using new and familiar instruments that required a lot of creativity, passion, and imagination from the composers. There are reasons that these are or will be nominated for awards. They each have memorable moments that help them stand apart from other projects. 

As mentioned before, music is also subjective. Just because I appreciate something doesn't mean I always enjoy listening to it on a regular basis. I will listen to certain tracks of The Odyssey and Dune and enjoy the music when I watch the movie to live in that specific world. But those worlds won't accompany my regular daily life. Maybe it is because I like to live in a world with hope but I would prefer to listen to Project Hail Mary with music that reflects hope for humanity as well as color variations and melodies that sticks with me.