Lakeshore Records release Alexandre Desplat's score for The Light Between Oceans. In the years following World War I, Tom Sherbourne, a young veteran still numb from his years in combat, takes a job as lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, a remote island off the coast of Western Australia. When he meets Isabel Graysmark, Tom is immediately captivated by her beauty, wit and passion, and they are soon married and living on the island. As their love flourishes, he begins to feel again, their happiness marred only by their inability to start a family, so when a rowboat with a dead man and infant girl mysteriously washes ashore, Isabel believes their prayers may have finally been answered. As a man of principle, Tom is torn between reporting the lost child and pleasing the woman he loves, and against his better judgment he agrees to let Isabel raise the child as their own, making a choice with devastating consequences...

I have a special playlist set aside. Whenever I'm reviewing an album and I find a particularly beautiful piece of music, I add that track to it. The last album where almost every track was added to this playlist was Rob Simonsen's incredible score for The Age of Adaline. And now Alexandre Desplat's beautiful score for The Light Between Oceans has also been (mostly) added to this playlist too. In fact 'At First Sight' reminded me a little of some of the music in The Age of Adaline.

The album opens with 'Letter' and I had to double check I was listening to the correct album as it sounding very much like a John Williams composition. The score has numerous themes over the course of its 19 tracks (1 hr, 02 min, 12 sec). There isn't a bad track here, nor a wasted second of music. Desplat turns in a beautiful score that will become one of your favourite soundtracks.

If you're a fan of beautiful, melancholic scores, then you'll get a huge kick out of The Light Between Oceans. When Desplat delivers the goods, he does so in style.

10

Darren Rea