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The main theme of P.S. I Love You is a pleasingly contemporary and breezy melody with very attractive cyclical movements, the ascending nature of its chord progressions making it highly optimistic and the slight Irish influence sometimes coming through in the inflection of the closing phrasing's performances. Lightly delicate from guitar, xylophone, and harmonica in "Make Up Kisses" and slowed for a variant on guitar in "The Cake," the theme returns to its base xylophone, guitar, and harmonica personality from the opening cue in the friendly "The Urn," outright Irish tones flirting in the second half of the cue as a foreshadowing of the woman's journey. The idea explodes with a lovely ensemble outburst at 2:01 into "Puke/1st Letter," occupies "Jacket" with guitar pleasantries, and persists with lively string and rock element gusto in "To Eire," some nice, softer renditions following. After adapting its chords for a distinct variant representing a new character in "William on the Lake," the innocent xylophone softly pushes it along in "Last Tune," and Powell cleverly places the identity against the Holly theme in "The Meeting" for a delicate dance of usual intelligence from the composer. The main theme emerges from the fanciful humor in "The Kiss" for a whimsical romantic passage on strings while the xylophone returns with the guitar in the latter half of "It Was Me" in light rock mode. At the conclusion of the tale, it closes "Sis Kiss" really well by transitioning out of the Holly theme in total comfort, and a piano solo finishes the album presentation throughout "P.S. I Love You." The Holly (Swank) theme, meanwhile, is just as prevalent in the score, as it's often a descending answer to the main theme, a little less exuberant but still cheery overall. Powell seems to aim his foundational American feel for the New York setting in this idea, as it exudes that lifestyle fairly well, even with the rather oddly muted harmonica contributing to it at times. Not as pretty or memorable as the other identity, perhaps by necessary, the idea does experience a significant transformation by "Sis Kiss" at the end as ultimate redemption is achieved for the character.

The first performance of Powell's theme for Holly in P.S. I Love You comes on guitar during all of "Bette Davis Montage" and teased during "You Gotta Be Rich." It's more upbeat in the style of the comedic portions of the score in "Travel Agent," a contemporary banjo and guitar performance over string bass and percussion at the end extending its easy-going charm. The solo guitar builds to swelling string romance in "Kitchen Waltz," a flighty woodwind rendition in "On the Lake" yielding to comedic Irish romping. Fiddle and whistle translate it fully to the Irish realm in "The Kennedys," and the idea adopts the waltz movement with woodwind hope in "The Meeting," the score's best duet with the main theme. Piano laments against drearier strings in "Somebody's Gerry," the theme emerging from the letters theme in "It Was Me" with good resonance. Powell allows the piano to adopt a more elegant, romantic posture against strings in "Sis Kiss" before an authentic guitar rendition in the middle of that cue is finally at peace with the main theme. The letters theme doubling as the Gerry (husband) identity is infectiously delightful and reminds of brighter How to Train Your Dragon melodicism, especially with the Irish tones in tow. Building throughout the first half of "Puke/1st Letter," its spirit carries over to the inspiringly pretty "Holly Gets Fired" with Irish flute and bubbles in the middle of "Travel Agent." This theme slows to more comfortable tones in "Reading Letters" before offering a wholesome moment for strings, piano, and percussion in "Gerry's Fort," and it resolves on rambling guitar figures in "It Was Me" when the source of the letters is revealed. Aside from these themes, there are comedy rhythms of unique character without clear melodic connections in "Home Again" and "Enough." The score translates to an extremely pleasant 50 minutes without a single moment of disruptive dissonance. Many listeners may be tempted to toss this music aside as standard romantic comedy fare, but Powell's execution here is really strong, certainly better than his prior efforts in the genre. Without a weak moment of distraction, P.S. I Love You remains a lovely little gem of a score that is guaranteed to lift your mood.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.3 (in 60 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.12 (in 55,810 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 49:47