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In the case of Dragonfly, however, Debney was presented a chance to merge the suspense of the supernatural thriller element with a spiritually romantic sense of harmony for the film's rich love story. The resulting combination of mystery and elegance, while derivative and simplistic in parts, is outstanding. Given the film's quick demise at the box office, it was unlikely to predict that Debney's score for Dragonfly would be so universally appreciated in the film score community. It is, without much doubt, one of Debney's top efforts in the suspense genre, and some listeners argue with good reason that it remains one of his best all-around scores of the decade. The orchestral ensemble for the recording is not enormous; Debney employs the Hollywood Studio Symphony, a group of Los Angeles players that has good days and bad days (and often is unfortunately remembered for the latter). Despite the somewhat unfounded reputation that Los Angeles recordings had of being functional though not overwhelming, Debney assembles the symphony and integrates them with a well-mixed, 32-member female choir with effectively engaging results. Electronics are sparse, if noticeable at all, and the orchestra carries the harmonic resonance of the score better than in Debney's prior suspense works. The key word is harmony, which, along with strongly developed themes, was an aspect adrift or absent all together from the majority of Debney's smaller scale horror efforts. In Dragonfly, the love story pushes the score into an atmosphere of eerie harmony for nearly its entire length, and because the film really features only one scene of blatant fright factors (translated into the cue "Donor Body Awakens"), the score is extremely fluid and cohesive in its movement. Its themes are afforded extended development, employing layers of turbulent strings, choral color, and other techniques that produce an appropriately ghostly environment. There are extremely clear connections between this score and the romantic inclinations of the scores written by James Newton Howard for Shyamalan's films. In fact, during a melodramatic cue like "The Plane Ride," a listener could be fooled into believing that he or she is indeed hearing a Horward score, and the conclusion of The Sixth Sense in particular.

The connections between the music for The Sixth Sense and Dragonfly are plentiful; Debney stirs the soul with low key piano and string rhythms that will please any Howard collector. The difference between the two works exists in scope, however. While its simmering suspense material is easily accessible, Dragonfly is highlighted by several large-scale orchestral and choral outbursts of pleasing tone and melody. The closing scene of revelation in Venezuela is, while tedious in its predictability, carried by Debney's redemptive music of almost stunning beauty. Individual moments of convincing character, whether existing in the sensitive piano and choral duets of "Meeting Sister Madeline" or the longing, bittersweet cello solos of "Emily's Grave," give the work a compelling element that translates well onto album. The "Main Title" sequence offers the score's primary theme of lamentation in two parts, first utilizing a modern, percussive rhythm not much unlike Randy Edelman's opening to Daylight and later handing it over to a solemn choral and orchestral expression that will faintly remind of Alan Silvestri's The Abyss. The fact that nearly the entirety of Dragonfly is such a pleasing listening experience was a surprise for many listeners unfamiliar with the sappy nature of the film, pushing the elements of the love story beyond those of the menacingly supernatural. The choir succeeds in representing the afterlife and other apparitional events on screen in a predictable, but still enjoyable fashion. As a whole, it's a very smooth score with several outstanding highlights. The slightly optimistic spirituality of the work keeps it from becoming clouded with despair, and Dragonfly on album is ultimately an uplifting and religious listening experience in the best of ways. The album is short, but thanks to recent agreements between the players of Los Angeles and the record labels at the time, collectors should be thankful that the product existed at all. Some have noticed that the album is missing some key choral or orchestral crescendos in the film, especially in the middle sections prior to "The Plane Ride." But even with the album's short running time, Debney's music is still powerful enough to set a strong mood for repeated listens. As a last minute replacement recording, Dragonfly once again served to validate Debney's highly respected stature in the industry.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 56 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.1 (in 49,960 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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