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If you've
been in a coma for the past two years, let me give you some info about
True Blood,
another acclaimed series from HBO. In the show, thanks to the invention of
synthetic blood, humans and former outcast vampires have become fellow
citizens. In Bon Temps, Louisiana, lives Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a
young, telepathic waitresses. As an outcast herself, she falls in love with
vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), and this is just the beginning of a
plot full of mystery, romance, horror, sex, fantasy, drugs, violence and
humour.
I'm sure that when someone
talks about the music of the show, the first thing that comes to a viewer's
mind is the catchy theme song "Bad Things" performed by Jace Everett.
However, the cement that binds all the elements of
True Blood is the score
created by Nathan Barr. Working in his own private home studio in Topanga
Canyon, Barr wrote, arranged and performed the majority of his music. The
score for True Blood's
first season centers around a little ensemble of acoustic instruments -
cello, guitar, and piano -,
and there's an
unique vibe in Barr's themes that perfectly fits with the show's background
and development.
Some
unexpected complex arrangements for the small ensemble of instruments,
sometimes unpretentious and yet warm played, results in a set of beautifully
exquisite melodies. Sometimes romantic, sometimes gothic, there's lightness
and delicacy enough in this music to help us to connect with the series'
memorable characters.
The entire score album is so
good that would be unfair to point its highlights, since even the less
recognizable tracks are very good.
Nevertheless
fans of the show will easily recognize the main themes and tracks of the
album. "Hairclip," "First Taste," "Bill and Sookie Together" and "Love Theme"
feature Bill & Sookie's love theme, while "Tripping" and "Amy's Goodbye"
contain the V-juice drug motif, as well as Jason and Amy's theme also heard
in "Jason and Amy". Among other recognizable cues that run throughout the
album there is the first track "Take Me Home", the vocal version of "The
Funeral" that plays in the emotional scene where Sookie eats her deceased
grandmother's pie.
Speaking about "Take Me Home," one of the great qualities of Barr's score is
the collaboration of Lisbeth Scott, that I've had the pleasure to meet in
2007 at Música Em Cena, the Film Music Festival that took place in
Rio de Janeiro. Scott is a lovely woman and also a great pianist, with an
amazing singing voice. In True Blood's
score she sings the ballad "Take Me Home," plays the piano in the last track
"Love Theme," and makes a duet with Barr in "Sancto Erico." Arguably Scott
gives to this work a sensitive and soft touch that makes it sound even
better.
I
recommend that you listen carefully the 45 minutes of this nice Varèse
Sarabande CD. Kudos to Barr, that continued to deliver a fine output for the
show's second season. So it is safe to assume that we will have another
score album for True Blood in a near
future. |
