Steven Emerson's score for The Nine acts as the backdrop to an intimate and unflinching portrait of a ravaged community living on Modesto's South Ninth Street. "The Nine" - a barren, forgotten street in California’s Great Central Valley (the setting for The Grapes of Wrath and Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother). The film focuses on Kiki, an effervescent and childlike drifter, whose only means of escape is through her imagination, and whose precarious sense of self-worth hinges on the making of the film. It is a quiet elegy to Kiki and others living on The Nine, each of whom clings to the possibility of an alternate life. Through Kiki’s brave vulnerability, keen observations of lost childhood, and the fundamental need for connection, the distance between ourselves and the “the other” is erased...

Given the movie's subject matter I was surprised to discover that Steven Emerson's score delivers a collection of music cues which don't seem to gel well as an album in their own right.

While it was no doubt carefully composed to add another dimension to the movie I didn't find much worthy of note. I can't help thinking this was a wasted opportunity. The score is functional and nothing more.

The album contains 19 tracks (34 min, 18 sec).

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Darren Rea