The Poker Club is a dark thriller which tells the story of four friends whose weekly poker night turns into a nightmare when they discover and accidentally kill a burglar. Young composer Evan Evans, who is the son of legendary jazz icon Bill Evans, has crafted a score which effectively combines a live orchestra with electronic elements, with low brass clusters, sustained misterioso string writing and a sophisticated main theme at its core. Evan Evans's music for The Poker Club is a very dark and sensual score which recalls the sound of Jerry Goldsmith's film noir excursions...

The 'Main Titles' gets this soundtrack off to an impressive start, sadly something that's not sustained for the album's duration. The remainder of this CD is split between very subtle background tracks, which don't really go anywhere, and theme based pieces which echo the 'Main Titles'.

Tracks like 'Flyball' have a distinctive Jerry Goldsmith flavour to them - sounding like elements of his score for Total Recall.

While technically a competent soundtrack, there's nothing here that really made me want to listen to it a second time. It starts well and then descends into rather plain mood music. While I'm sure that this adds atmosphere to the movie, as a stand alone album this is rather average.

5

Darren Rea