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Three aspects of Killing Me Softly will impress not only Doyle collectors, but film music enthusiasts in general. First, its dynamic spread of instrumental duties causes the score to utilize every player very wisely. From spritely woodwinds representing love at first sight and romantic violins swaying in the wind for its aftermath to striking bass string and low brass stabs and figures of force for suspicions of criminality and bells denoting death at the end, every application by Doyle to the soundscape in Killing Me Softly is satisfyingly textured. Some listeners may find these utilizations to be predictable, therefore, but Doyle and conductor James Shearman manage to solicit a performance from the ensemble that stands with some of the composer's most evocative career music. At times, when the score begins really cook in its latter half, Doyle applies individual players as striking accents to a rhythmic line (including light percussive tones and quick high flute notes) in manners not dissimilar to John Ottman's Incognito. The second aspect of Killing Me Softly worth noting is Doyle's development of motifs throughout the film. He writes a multitude of ideas that experience intriguing changes as the work progresses. A general theme for the lead character is established in the first few tracks, rollicking in its innocence in "Alice and Jake" but better foreshadowing danger in its elongated, melodramatic incarnation in "Front Titles." A weepy love theme heard first in "Don't Turn Away" highlights the most upbeat moments of the score ("The Wedding" in particular). It's the usual layered string affair for Doyle that his collectors will immediately recognize and love, though the composer's twisting of the idea later in the score, especially in its constant battle with uncertainty and associated shades of dissonance, is marvelous. The dark side of the love affair is treated with a dual-purpose theme that uses pulsations from the deeper strings in waltz rhythms to denote the physical thrusting seen on screen. While unadulterated in "First Fling," the waltz movements are translated more desperate variants almost immediately ("Alice Returns" and "Alice Leaves Jake"). The alluring but cautious reintroduction of the idea by harp in "Silk Scarf (Bondage)" is particularly chilling. By the time the protagonist suspects her husband of possibly being a murderer, Doyle aptly uses the same rhythmic churning to inform the score's main suspense motif. Heard first in "Faxes," this quiet, elegant desperation produces the most engrossing parts of the score. Reprised in "High Suspicions" and at the conclusion of "End Titles," the suspense motif offers the best moments of the score's presentation on album.

As for the lesser motifs repeated throughout Killing Me Softly, the mysterious husband receives a falsely ominous motif throughout the latter half of the score that denote his wife's fear of him. The driving, static rhythmic force in "Adele's Letters," punctuated by incredibly scary descending trombone lines, continues in "Adam Called" and "The Graveyard," each performance more frantically layered with seemingly haphazard string activity. Finally, a death motif of sorts is applied at about 3:30 into "The Graveyard" and returns in "Deborah Dies," dealing a slight dose of Danny Elfman's most morbid sensibilities into the revelation scenes for Doyle. The demise of the passion/waltz and love themes at the end of "Deborah Dies" is truly accomplished in its intelligence. The same could be said about nearly every moment in Killing Me Softly, the only exception perhaps being the overflowing optimism of the love theme's reprise for the couple's chance encounter in "Two Years Later" (after what they went through, one could debate whether or not the love theme could ever express itself with such Golden Age innocence ever again). The final aspect of Killing Me Softly that requires due recognition is the quality of its recording, mix, and album presentation. The sections are masterfully balanced in the mix, tingling and tapped percussion accents always clearly evident while the whole ensemble is still offered a perfect amount of light reverb. Listeners attempting to find a downside to Killing Me Softly could point to the score's over-thought narrative; Doyle almost goes overboard in his super-careful development of each individual idea, punctuating every false twist in the film with very obvious plays from the ensemble. Whereas subtly in suspicion was the aim, the score sometimes approaches the boundaries of parody without really attempting to do so, though the same could possibly be said about Basic Instinct as well. The "over the top" aspect of Killing Me Softly makes for a very entertaining album however. It was not released on CD until 2011, when specialty label Quartet Records pressed 1,000 copies of the score in a very attractive package featuring crystal clear sound and extensive notation. Since the director mangled and rearranged the score in the final edit of the picture (something Doyle does not seem to have any lingering issues with), the album includes the original versions of four cues that were, in most cases, dialed out or replaced with simple percussive rhythms by Kaige. The resulting album should be a must-buy for any Doyle collector, the score's intelligence in thematic development and instrumental balance proving the composer's mostly unrealized potential in this genre of film.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Patrick Doyle reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.84 (in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.44 (in 26,327 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 58:00