Labor Day (soundtrack)

Last updated

Labor Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Labor Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).jpg
Soundtrack album by
Rolfe Kent and various artists
ReleasedDecember 17, 2013
RecordedVarious times
Studio
Genre Soundtrack
Length43:59
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Rolfe Kent
Rolfe Kent chronology
The Scapegoat
(2012)		Labor Day
(2013)		 Bad Words
(2014)

Labor Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2013 film of the same name directed by Jason Reitman. The film's original score is composed by Rolfe Kent who previously composed for Reitman's Thank You for Smoking (2005), Up in the Air (2009) and Young Adult (2011). [1] [2] The score album was released by Warner Bros. Records on December 17, 2013 digitally followed by a CD release on January 28, 2014.

Contents

The musical score also accompanies the guitar pieces by Andrés Segovia and Shin-Ichi Fukuda, [3] in addition to the songs "I'm Going Home" from Arlo Guthrie's studio album Alice's Restaurant (1967) and Here Before" from Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering (2005). [4] "Wings" from Birdy and "Take Us Alive" from Other Lives were featured in the promotional trailers. [5] [6] [7] The music received positive response from critics.

Development

In June 2012, Kent was recruited to score music for Labor Day, who described it as an "extremely intense drama". [8] [9] At the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, Kent, who attended the special screening of the film, was interviewed by Trever Hogg, who described the scoring experience as "The moment I started giving things away or feeding an emotional response Jason would pull me up and guide me back to a position of balance. It’s an extraordinary thing to be put through. It’s an interesting question to deal with. What it does do is draw attention and intensity to the moment." Reitman suggested few films for Kent to watch, who admitted that he did not copy them in any way, but insisted on how slow the music would be and should not feed the audience in any way. [9]

Jason had several ideas for classical guitar into the beginning, and sustained moods which found their ways into the film. The classical guitar conjured with interesting and organic ways to work on the "music that moves very softly and subtly, with organic flow and nuance, and taking simple acoustic sounds and then processing them through long and warping reverbs was my way of achieving this, in conjunction afterwards with more composed elements such as minimal strings and other interwoven elements". [10] Kent recalled that, "there was a moment where we were talking about certain scenes with the idea that there’d be crickets in the background" and he experimented with cricket sounds using the keyboard that slowed down cricket choir. Some of the acoustic instruments such as guitar and charango, were incorporated with a number of plucked instruments being processed such a way that create the organic washes, which are carefully structured to flow along with the film. [9]

He initially thought of not having any melodies but there are two strong melodies that appear numerous times throughout the film, against the fact that majority of the score is not melodic. This appreciated him the idea of being extremely spare with melodies, where instead of flooding a film with specific cues all over the place, there are two tunes being used carefully and specifically. [9] The two sequences where the music takes over, includes the pie-baking sequence and the climatic sequence, which are different elements in the film. For the former, it was "really the moment when I began to get a handle on how to voice this film, using both interesting but very slowly shifting textures that I had recorded and layered, as well as string chords fading in and out". The cue for the miscarriage sequence was the last to be written as the piano was set to be the "strong melodic character" challenging Reitman that the music had to be emotionally, for which he played a delicate piece to structure a "simple melody of longing, tenderness, fragility, and heartbreak". [11]

Reception

Film Music Magazine's Daniel Schweiger praised the soundtrack as "most impactful insights to the human condition, while completely surprising with its cinematic, and musical authorships." [12] Kaya Savas of Film Music Media gave the album four and a half star out of five and said that "There is beauty, sadness and uneasiness all tackled with a wonderfully calculated approach." [13] Catherine Shoard from The Guardian reviewed that Kent's score "keeps us guessing as to the genre, then sustains tension once we're on solid ground." [14] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter reviewed "the low-keyed underscoring of composer Rolfe Kent, keeps the suspense at a purposeful low boil throughout the early going". [15] Betsy Sharkley of Los Angeles Times commented that "in a year of excellent movie scores, British composer Rolfe Kent contributes another one." [16] Matt Goldberg of Collider wrote "Rolfe Kent's thoughtful score can lull us into near complacency before an ear-piercing note and a heartbeat base". [17] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap called the score as "insistent". [18]

Track listing

No.TitleMusicLength
1."I'm Going Home" Arlo Guthrie 3:14
2."A Stroll" Rolfe Kent 2:48
3."Price Mart"Rolfe Kent4:56
4."Hunger for Human Touch"Rolfe Kent4:15
5."Frank the HandyMan"Rolfe Kent2:24
6."Eating Pie"Rolfe Kent1:43
7."Here Before" Vashti Bunyan 2:06
8."Exercises in B Minor, Op. 35, No. 22: Allegretto" Shin-Ichi Fukuda 1:56
9."Adele’s Miscarriages"Rolfe Kent4:42
10."Letter to Dad"Rolfe Kent5:17
11."Frank Is Arrested"Rolfe Kent1:27
12."Henry Grows Up"Rolfe Kent7:31
13."Romance de los Pinos" Andrés Segovia 1:41
Total length:43:59

Credits

Credits adapted from AllMusic. [19]

Instruments
Orchestra

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Mansell</span> English musician and composer

Clinton Darryl Mansell is an English musician, singer, and composer. He served as the lead vocalist of alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself. After the band's dissolution, Mansell moved to the United States and embarked on a career as a film score composer.

<i>Thank You for Smoking</i> 2005 film by Jason Reitman

Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. It follows the efforts of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who lobbies on behalf of cigarettes using heavy spin tactics while also trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son. Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J. K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall appear in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Kirkhope</span> Scottish composer

Grant Kirkhope is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film. Some of his notable works include GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Perfect Dark, among many others. He has won an Ivor Novello Award for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and a World Soundtrack Award for The King's Daughter as well as being nominated for various BAFTA, ASCAP, and IFMCA awards.

Rolfe R. Kent is an English film score composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Harris</span> American musician

Jesse Harris is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, and Lizz Wright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Tyler</span> American composer

Brian Theodore Tyler is an American composer, conductor and arranger, best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 26-year career, Tyler has scored seven installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Rambo, Eagle Eye, The Expendables trilogy, Iron Man 3, Now You See Me, Avengers: Age of Ultron with Danny Elfman, Crazy Rich Asians and The Super Mario Bros. Movie among others. He also composed and re-arranged the current fanfare of the Universal Pictures logo, originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary, which debuted with The Lorax (2012), and composed the 2013–2016 Marvel Studios logo, which debuted with Thor: The Dark World (2013), which he also composed the film's score. He composed the NFL Sunday Countdown Theme for ESPN and the Formula One theme. He is also behind the soundtrack of many television series including Yellowstone. For his work as a film composer, he won the IFMCA Awards 2014 Composer of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilaiyaraaja</span> Indian film composer, singer (born 1943)

Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of the most prolific composers, in a career spanning over forty-eight years, he has composed over 7,000 songs and provided film scores for over 1,000 films, apart from performing in over 20,000 concerts. He is nicknamed "Isaignani" and is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred to him by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.

<i>Juno</i> (film) 2007 American film by Jason Reitman

Juno is a 2007 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Elliot Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting her unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J. K. Simmons also star. Filming spanned from early February to March 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia. It premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mateo Messina</span> American composer (born 1972)

Mateo Messina is an American composer perhaps best known for his soundtrack to the 2007 film Juno. The film won a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media.

<i>Up in the Air</i> (2009 film) 2009 comedy-drama film by Jason Reitman

Up in the Air is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman. It was written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on the 2001 novel Up in the Air by Walter Kirn. The story is centered on traveling corporate "downsizer" Ryan Bingham. Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Bateman also star. Up in the Air was primarily filmed in St. Louis with additional scenes shot in Detroit, Omaha, Las Vegas, and Miami.

<i>Up in the Air</i> (soundtrack) 2009 soundtrack album by Various artists

Up in the Air: Music from the Motion Picture is the official soundtrack to the 2009 comedy drama Up in the Air. The album was released on November 9, 2009. The CD version consists of fourteen tracks, while a blue translucent vinyl version was released consisting of 12 tracks. The vinyl version does not contain the tracks "Bust a Move" or "Milwaukee: To the Wedding with a Plus 1". The score to Up in the Air was composed by Rolfe Kent, who recorded his score with a 55-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage. Tony Blondal orchestrated.

<i>Tron: Legacy</i> (soundtrack) 2010 soundtrack album by Daft Punk

Tron: Legacy is the soundtrack album to the 2010 film of the same name, released by Walt Disney Records on December 3, 2010. It is the only film score by French music duo Daft Punk.

<i>Labor Day</i> (film) 2013 American film

Labor Day is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Jason Reitman, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard. The film stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin and was co-produced by Paramount Pictures and Indian Paintbrush, premiering at the Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 2013, and was a Special Presentation at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on December 27, 2013.

<i>Ghostbusters: Afterlife</i> 2021 film by Jason Reitman

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a 2021 American supernatural comedy film directed by Jason Reitman from a screenplay he co-wrote with Gil Kenan. It is the direct sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), the third mainline installment, and the fourth film overall in the Ghostbusters franchise. The film stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Paul Rudd, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver reprising their characters from the earlier films. Set 32 years after the events of Ghostbusters II, it follows a single mother and her children who move to an Oklahoma farm they inherited from her estranged father Egon Spengler, a member of the original Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters: Original Soundtrack Album is the soundtrack album for the 1984 film of the same name, released by Arista Records on June 8, 1984. The soundtrack includes the Billboard Hot 100 number one hit "Ghostbusters", written and performed by Ray Parker Jr. The film score, Ghostbusters: Original Motion Picture Score, was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film score remained unreleased until March 16, 2006, when it was released by Varèse Sarabande.

<i>The Adventures of Tintin</i> (soundtrack) 2011 film score by John Williams

Music from the Motion Picture: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is the soundtrack for the 2011 animated action/adventure film The Adventures of Tintin directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, based on Belgian cartoonist Hergé's comic book series The Adventures of Tintin. The film score is composed by John Williams, which is the first time he had composed the score of a film since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) as well as his first score for an animated film. The score was released on 21 October 2011 by Sony Classical Records. Williams received a nomination for Best Original Score at the 84th Academy Awards for his work in the film.

<i>Young Adult</i> (soundtrack) 2011 soundtrack album by various artists

Young Adult (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack to the 2011 film Young Adult, directed by Jason Reitman. Released by Rhino Records on December 6, 2011, the album consisted of 15 tracks that are mostly indie rock and alternative rock tracks. The soundtrack features artists such as Diana Ross, The Lemonheads, Cracker, 4 Non Blondes, The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., Suicidal Tendencies and songs from the film's composer Rolfe Kent and Mateo Messina (who previously scored Reitman's directorial Juno). The soundtrack features instrumental renditions by Messina of a number of rock songs, including songs from Faith No More and Pearl Jam.

<i>The Counselor</i> (soundtrack) 2013 film score by Daniel Pemberton

The Counselor (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2013 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. The film is scored by Daniel Pemberton in his first high-profile project as a composer. The score recorded at the Abbey Road Studios consisted of an orchestral music integrated with guitar noises and textures recorded in Pemberton's home studio. The soundtrack was released by Milan Records in digital formats on October 22, 2013 and a physical release on November 11, 2013.

<i>Nebraska</i> (soundtrack) 2013 film score by Mark Orton

Nebraska (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack to the 2013 film Nebraska directed by Alexander Payne. The film's musical score is composed by Mark Orton and released through Milan Records on November 19, 2013. The score consisted of acoustic instrumentation deviating from the Western and country music tropes. It also featured contributions from the music of Tin Hat band being used as temp music and eventually mixed into the film. The score received positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. ↑ "Labor Day (Music from the Motion Picture)". iTunes . Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Labor Day Soundtrack Information". Soundtrack.net. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  3. ↑ "'Labor Day' Soundtrack Announced". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ "'Labor Day' Soundtrack Feature Arlo Guthrie, Vashti Bunyan Plus Score By Rolfe Kent". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ "LABOR DAY - TRAILER". Trailer Music. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ "OTHER LIVES FEATURED IN TRAILER FOR 'LABOR DAY". Oklahoma Rock. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ "LABOR DAY Trailer". TV Commercial Songs. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Rolfe Kent to Score Jason Reitman's 'Labor Day'". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 admin (November 20, 2013). "Composure: A conversation with composer Rolfe Kent". Flickering Myth. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ Saito, Stephen (February 18, 2014). "Interview: Composer Rolfe Kent on Giving Texture to "Labor Day"". The Moveable Fest. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  11. ↑ Saito, Stephen (February 18, 2014). "Interview: Composer Rolfe Kent on Giving Texture to "Labor Day"". The Moveable Fest. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Audio: On the Score with Rolfe Kent". Film Music Magazine. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Labor Day by Rolfe Kent (Review)". Film Music Media. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  14. ↑ Shoard, Catherine (September 7, 2013). "Labor Day: Toronto 2013 - first look review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on September 12, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  15. ↑ McCarthy, Todd (August 30, 2013). "Labor Day: Telluride Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  16. ↑ Sharkley, Betsy (December 27, 2013). "Review: Reitman's 'Labor Day' is lovely but weighed down by the past". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 18, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  17. ↑ "LABOR DAY Review. Jason Reitman's LABOR DAY Stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin". Collider. September 7, 2013. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  18. ↑ Duralde, Alonso (November 7, 2013). "'Labor Day' Review: Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin's Sparks Fizzled by Soap Suds". TheWrap. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Credits – Labor Day [Music from the Motion Picture]". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.