 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Composed, Co-Orchestrated, and Co-Produced by:
|
Michael Suby
|
Co-Orchestrated and Conducted by:
|
Charles Fernandez
|
Co-Produced by:
|
Ford A. Thaxton
|
|
|
|
|
Release Date:
|
January 20th, 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you appreciate a thriller score that haunts with its
beauty and intrigues with its strongly rooted orchestral underscore.
Avoid it... if you would rather hear your heartbreaking orchestral
themes without the electronic sound effects that litter the middle portions
of this particular score.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The Butterfly Effect: (Michael Suby) If temporal
mechanics and a time paradox or two typically drive you nuts, then watch out
for this one. The psychological thriller The Butterfly Effect was
created by the same people who brought Final Destination 2 to the
screen, and they seem to enjoy twisting reality and timelines in bizarre,
psychological ways. To some degree, The Butterfly Effect is a another
variation on the reality-twisting tales of teenie love gone awry, and
perhaps you have to scratch your head and wonder just how many times films
like this will continue to earn audience interest. Basically, a
psychologically gifted, but troubled young man discovers that he can travel
back in time and exist with his current mind in his earlier body and,
therefore, alter prior events of his life into his favor; but those temporal
mechanics come back to haunt him as his changes don't necessarily change the
future for the better (didn't this kid ever watch Star Trek:
Voyager?). The filmmakers recognized that this particular project would,
like the events in the film, move in unpredictable ways, and went in search
of a composer who could understand their warped sense of thinking and adapt
accordingly. Their early choice was Michael Suby, a young composer fresh out
of music school who has composed for various and (thus far) unimpressive
projects. Despite knowing Suby personally, the filmmakers didn't present his
unknown name to the studio originally, but in a stroke of luck, the studio
had heard a demo theme from Suby specifically for The Butterfly
Effect, and he was hired to the delight of everyone on the project. The
task of scoring the film was troublesome because of the filmmaker's notions
that instrumentation should change in each parallel reality through which
the main character in the film travels. Themes and instrumentation
established at the start wouldn't necessarily exist later in the film
because that original timeline was wiped out...
But in the end, Suby ended up creating a score that was far
less twisted than that original idea had been. The score did require several
rewrites, but the primary theme that Suby had written as a demo did
eventually evolve into the score's identity and highlight. His work for
The Butterfly Effect doesn't really vary from time shift to time
shift as much as it could have, with a consistent blend of orchestral and
electronic music remaining steady in quality and substance from start to
end. The score varies from somewhat aimless, electronically-enhanced
underscore to brilliant outbursts of fully orchestral and choral harmony.
For a psychological horror score, it achieves exactly what anyone could
possibly want: thematic beauty for its heart and a maintained level of
interesting action for its filler cues. The recording of the Czech
Philharmonic Orchestra is, as always, stellar in crystal clear sound, and
this superb sound quality, combined with Suby's ability to provide
intriguing orchestral ideas in even the most tense of moments, keeps the
score interesting at all times. A good example of this fresh use of
orchestral blending occurs in "Send You a Postcard," in which a propulsive,
chopping string rhythm of determination is accompanied by an intentionally
off-pitch whining of even higher strings. A sound effect that resembles a
electronically echoed barking dog is introduced in "Lenny's Explosive Flash"
and carries forward into several of the horror/action cues. The orchestral
foundation is stronger than the electronics, which twice in the score
produce a more hip, modern rhythm to accompany a "cooler" persona on screen.
A piano is utilized to produce the safe, suburban environment of family, and
it is no coincidence that the piano's innocence fades as the score
progresses. The highlights of the score are the orchestral statement of
theme, such as the simple, chord-alternating Kayleigh theme heard lovingly
in "Kayleigh Loves Lenny" and heartbreakingly in "Kayleigh's Funeral."
Statements of the primary theme in the first and final cues are superb, with
a solo boy soprano adding to the mystery and solitude of the score. The rich
orchestral depth of The Butterfly Effect makes it a rare thriller
that is easy to enjoy on album, and a nicely-rounded 44 minutes of only
Suby's material is provided on La-La Land Records' product. It is an
impressive debut for Suby into the mainstream of big screen cinema. ****
 |
|
Viewer Ratings and Comments:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
• 1. The Butterfly Effect Main Theme (2:18)
• 2. Evan's Plan/Evan & Mom (2:49)
• 3. Mom and Evan/Evan's Drawing (2:07)
• 4. In the Basement/Knife Blackout (1:27)
• 5. Going to see Dad (0:24)
• 6. Jason's Funeral (0:48)
• 7. Lenny's Explosive Flash/Hypnosis (3:10)
• 8. Tommy's Right Hook/We're moving (1:26)
• 9. Burnt Crockett (1:37)
• 10. Drive to see Lenny/Inside Lenny's Room (2:16)
• 11. The Mailbox (1:14)
• 12. The Diner (1:06)
| |
• 13. Kayleigh's Funeral (1:40)
• 14. Evan's Warning (2:53)
• 15. Sorority Strut (1:00)
• 16. Evan Kills Tommy (2:04)
• 17. Prison Escape (0:47)
• 18. Prison (1:07)
• 19. Stigmata Flashback (0:52)
• 20. Evan & Kayleigh/Kayleigh Loves Lenny (2:42)
• 21. Blowing Up Kayleigh (1:14)
• 22. Lockdown Lenny/Send You a Postcard (3:15)
• 23. Evan's Escape (1:48)
• 24. Everyone's Fixed Memories/The Butterfly Effect Reprise (3:20)
|
The insert includes extensive information about the score's pre-production and the film.
|
