LAKESHORE RECORDS
Watching Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story unfold, you might feel your heart strings being plucked to a familiar tune. That’s the pull of composer Randy Newman, the man responsible for scoring nine Pixar films, and he’s here to pull his signature moves on you. In the opening piece, What I Love About Nicole, Newman sets up a key motif of soft strings and a playful lilt of oboe that he then revisits throughout the score, each track tripping along with fairytale pacing. With a chamber orchestra providing an intimate sound parallel to the relationships on screen, Newman seamlessly laces melancholy into the tone of his otherwise innocentsounding score. Some pieces verge into Toy Story-esque territory, but a childish touch is essential in bringing this exquisite film to life.