Lakeshore Records release West Dylan Thordson's score for 3 Generations. The album also features the song 'Fit In' by KT Tunstall. The movie tells the stirring and touching story of three generations of a family living under one roof in New York as they deal with the life-changing transformation by one that ultimately affects them all. Ray is a teenager who has struggled with the body assigned to him at birth and is determined to start transitioning. His single mother, Maggie, must track down Ray’s biological father to get his legal consent to allow Ray’s transition. Dolly, Ray’s lesbian grandmother is having a hard time accepting that she now has a grandson. They must each confront their own identities and learn to embrace change and their strength as a family in order to ultimately find acceptance and understanding...

Given the subject matter and obvious emotional elements the score has to touch, it was refreshing to see that we are not just bombarded with a collection of themes designed to pull at our heart strings. What we have here is music which matures and changes as the movie progresses. And while the music wasn't really the sort of thing I'd want to listen to very often, I can appreciate how well it's been woven into the strands of the film to almost become another character.

In places I was reminded of the trailer to the game Dead Island (which was composed by Giles Lamb - and can be heard by clicking the game review link above) when listening to this score. While there's no music here that comes even close to matching Lamb's haunting music, West Dylan Thordson uses the same instruments (piano and violin) in a similar style. This is most evident in tracks like 'Pink Bridge'.

The score contains 13 tracks (26 min, 38 sec) and while not one that I personally enjoyed, I have to give Thordson credit for building an impressive album of strong themes.

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Darren Rea