‘Did you just crack your knuckles, or was that popping sound something… else?’
When
it comes to evoking feelings in film music, Jon Brion knows no fear. Speaking to Interview magazine, the US producer, songwriter and composer noted how some filmmakers dread the accusation of ‘leading the audience’ with music. But not Brion: ‘I think of it,’ he said, ‘as a job requirement.’
Twenty years ago, Brion proved as much for Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s head-trip for the heart. After working for Paul Thomas Anderson on Hard Eight, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love, Brion’s aptitude for emotional intricacy proved match-ready for Eternal Sunshine’s alt-symphony of bruised love. As ex-lovers plunge into memories of soured romance, Brion’s score dives, too: circling memory’s playground in smoky tendrils of keys, woodwind, guitar and reversed tape loops, his fragmented music makes bittersweet feelings tangible with exquisitely artful intelligence.