Lakeshore Records release Rob Simonsen's score for Gifted. The movie follows Frank Adler, a single man, raising a child prodigy - his spirited young niece Mary - in a coastal town in Florida. Frank's plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the seven-year-old’s mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank’s formidable mother Evelyn whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary...

I've been a fan of Rob Simonsen's work for some time, Sadly, Gifted doesn't come anywhere near the quality of his normal output. The album contains 25 tracks (47 min, 12 sec) with the majority of the tracks appearing to have been built around the same theme - and it's not as thought it's a particular interesting theme at that.

On occasion he captures a moment, but it's lost so quickly. 'Father Vs Uncle', very briefly touches on his brilliance from The Age of Adaline. Sadly, it's too fleeting and we're back to bland themes.

I have no doubt that Simonsen's music works incredibly well for the film it was composed for and anything more interesting may have distracted from the onscreen action, but listened to in isolation this is not a very interesting score.

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Darren Rea