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If the music of Phantom Thread seems strangely abrasive even in its more fluid, romantic portions, then that's precisely Greenwood's purpose. He is adept at writing extremely unfriendly meanderings for plucked and struck instruments, and the personality of his music is as dry as the heavily constrained recording ambience. His ensemble of choice consists primarily of strings, harp, and piano, with occasional contributions by other elements. The strings and piano are up front, however, the former ranging from solo strains to a fuller ensemble. The placement of the strings is often frightfully stark, the chamber environment potentially grating the nerves of the listener even without the atonal constructs. Although Greenwood does explore thematic variations for the two leads (the "Phantom Thread" recordings for the designer and the "Sandlewood" cues for his wife), don't expect any of the composer's motifs to imprint upon your memory due to their inherently broken nature, their chords frequently unforgiving and twisted as needed for the torment of their targets. Greenwood doesn't write these passages to sooth the characters' unlikable personalities until the very end; rather, he reflects their impulsively controlling and obnoxiously inflexible habits in his prickly, rhythmic passages. The score's key to success on screen is its transition from loneliness, dissonant shades of despair early to a more conventionally romantic, readily harmonious conclusion in several late cues. Ironically, as the abuse on screen becomes more acceptable, the music follows to traditionally lush ends, the dichotomy of romance and sickness exacerbated by the music. There is salvation to be had in four late, highlighting cues, but even here Greenwood does not completely lose the torment of his string lines. The merging of the two thematic veins in "For the Hungry Boy" is disturbingly psychotic as it functions in the movie but makes for easier listening on album, where it achieves almost a classic, Golden Age sense of elegance at the very end. Still, the majority of Phantom Thread is, by necessity and design, an extraordinarily vexatious and even sometimes unlistenable experience. Some of the strictly plucked rhythmic moments, as in "The Hem" and "Barbara Rose," are viciously annoying, supplying an environment of madness that cannot translate to album effectively. This score is indeed one to appreciate in context. There will be redemption with the fuller string ensemble and piano performances in "Phantom Thread III" and "For the Hungry Boy," but the mass of the work is a miserable journey as it struggles to align its romantic inclinations in the final third. Greenwood continues to offer a unique musical voice to the industry that serves emotional discord well, but such music requires potentially painful, intellectual patience on album.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 55:40