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With Newman in his 2020's light drama mode, of course, the specialty instruments drive the sound beyond the orchestra. In The Thursday Murder Club, you hear piano, xylophone, and tapped percussion provide the staccato personality of the mystery rhythms while electric and acoustic guitar and electric bass join worldly exoticism for the composer's contemporary style. His typical tones of the viola de gamba, mandolin, and dulcimer persist to some degree. The slight, usual, seemingly synthetic choral tones contribute as well, especially in the first half, and there's perhaps a hint of electronic enhancement in the bass at times of suspense. None of this is particularly British-sounding, interestingly, but the emotional results are sufficient. There are few dark or dissonant portions, as in "Don't Wake the Dead," this score translating to album with more ease than its Newman siblings. One key distinction is that this score is more consistent in its application of themes. The main identity doesn't appear often, but it's quite wonderful, optimistically charming even if a somewhat anonymous identity for the lead group. Heard on violins at 0:18 into "The Thursday Murder Club" over friendly rhythmic propulsion, this idea finally returns in "What a Chase" for a moment of ensemble redemption and bursts with enthusiasm in a bright, full ensemble rendition during "The Famous Coppers Chase." More impactful is the composer's intrigue motif, a four-note phrase on flute answered by three-note resolution of moderately retro demeanor. Debuting at 0:27 into "The Woman in White" and repeating the same performances in "Scrum," this prevailing tool bubbles a few times in fragments over the investigation motif in "The Arm in the Mirror," again echoes on flutes in "Jumper," and meanders in a longer form during the softly alluring "Witnesses to a Murder." It follows the death motif again in "Four Sugars," leading to more powerful suspense, and the idea explores its more dramatic side in "Always Bring Cake" before another hint of its base form. The intrigue motif closes "The Famous Coppers Chase" with a reminder that more adventures await, especially with a madly plucked version of the first phrase at the very end, and it accompanies the investigation motif on guitar once more in "Blood Roses."

While the secondary motifs in The Thursday Murder Club aren't particularly memorable, they do serve the purpose of wrapping certain story concepts together. Newman's death motif is a rising structure of moderate melodrama with pleasingly grave harmonies, and it's first heard at 0:12 into "The Woman in White" on choral ambience before reprising the same rendition in "Scrum." This motif is also faintly elegant at the start of "My Mother's Name," more pleasantly ethereal in "Headstones," and dwells at 0:11 into "Four Sugars." More often associated with the intrigue motif is a separate, repetitive bass identity elongated from the death motif to help push the concept of intrepid investigation. Perhaps summarized best during all of "The Arm in the Mirror" on plucked electric guitar and synthetics under the intrigue motif, this rhythmic tool continues in lesser form during "Jumper" and is blown up for ensemble flashiness in "The Enemy Approaches," emulated by another plucky and comedic variant in "WTF." The investigation motif tries to emerge late in "Night Flowers," regains strength and volume in "A Woodpecker," briefly tumbles early in "The Case of Angela Hughes," and lets rip one last time early in "Blood Roses." Aside from these recurring motifs, Newman also follows tangents sometimes related to them for secondary characters. These include the more exotic woodwind tilt in "DI Penny Gray," the lightly mysterious mode in "Aunt Maude," a little more contemporary approach in "Clever Daughter," and warmer contemplation in "Good People Bad Things." Overall, The Thursday Murder Club is a fairly brief but effortless listening experience. To enjoy it, you absolutely must be an enthusiast of Newman's typical methodology, especially in his somewhat atypical instrumentation. The worldliness of those tones doesn't entirely fit with this movie, and the score doesn't have as much of an impact on the style of the story as one might wish for, but it's highly listenable on its own if you are a known fan of the sound. Newman's similar scores tend to have drab or outright challenging passages of dissonance amongst the lightly ethereal ambience, but this one is a pleasantly smooth experience for all but a few minutes of its length. The excellent final two tracks in particular are optimistic, rhythmic Newman expressions at their finest.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ***
• Music as Heard on Album:  ****
• Overall:  ****

Bias Check:

For Thomas Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.16 (in 38 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.18 (in 60,993 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 40:47