Silva Screen Records release Clint Mansell’s brooding, edgy and beautifully unsettled orchestral score to Ben Wheatley’s eagerly awaited film adaptation of J.G Ballard’s High-Rise. The movie is a visionary tale of human society slipping into extreme violence. The once-peaceful residents of a desirable apartment block quickly spiral into a world ruled by primal urges in which elevators become vicious battlegrounds and cocktail parties degenerate into brutal raids on "enemy" floors...

Former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman turned soundtrack composer, Clint Mansell is best known for his work with long time collaborator Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Fountain, Noah). He also scored Duncan Jones' Directorial debut Moon, and he has also lent his talent to films as diverse as Filth, Faster, and Last Night.

Mansell's score for High-Rise is notable for several reasons. Firstly, over the course of this album's 12 tracks (42 min, 01 sec) he explores many musical styles. He delivers tracks that wouldn't sound out of place from Mark Snow's time on The X-Files ('Silent Corridors'); classical sounding works of art ('Critical Mass'); and downright beautiful, eerie themes ('The World Beyond the High-Rise') - and this is just the album's first three tracks.

Then there's the fact that this album is, pretty much, track for track bursting with intricate and interesting themes. While I personally found 'The World Beyond the High-Rise' to be this album's high point, there isn't a bad track on here.

This is a soundtrack that works on so many levels, but it's certainly a standalone album that classical score fans will adore.

9

Darren Rea