Sony Music release the soundtrack to Tolkien, with music by Thomas Newman. Directed by Dome Karukoski, the movie explores the formative years of author J.R.R. Tolkien's life as he finds friendship, courage and inspiration among a fellow group of writers and artists at school. Their brotherhood strengthens as they grow up and weather love and loss together, including Tolkien’s tumultuous courtship of his beloved Edith Bratt, until the outbreak of the First World War which threatens to tear their fellowship apart. All of these experiences would later inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-earth novels...

Thomas Newman delivers a subtle, score for Tolkien. In many ways this is Newman going back to his roots as there are several tracks that reminded me of his earlier work. Most notably there are elements of The Shawshank Redemption on tracks like 'Dutch Courage', 'Scuppered (Ancient Things)' and 'Fellowship'. 'The TCBS' and 'Helheimr (End Crawl)' appear to have been inspired by the popular Christmas Carol 'Carol of the Bells', using its main theme as the foundations to build something a little different.

Of the soundtrack, Newman comments: "Because J.R.R. Tolkien is embedded in popular culture, and because his work and outlook have been the subjects of much interpretation, I wanted to write music for Tolkien that would honour his ethos, his individualism, without being slavish to it. The musical vocabulary draws from a wide swath of instrumental and vocal colours, from winds with string accompaniment to solo voice in hushed pianissimo. There is Swedish kantélé, mandolin and monochord intersecting bell rhythms and piano-derived ambiences. The object is to give musical identity to the nascent feelings of the young storyteller from Birmingham, only just beginning to stretch his wings. And because much of the story is seen through the prism of his time spent in the trenches of World War I, there is that parallel experience of epic conflict that deepens my feeling for his language and, I hope, lets sound, noise, and melody rise up and sing."

The album contains 25 tracks (51 min, 26 sec) and while it's diverse and interesting it's not one of Newman's most thematic releases. It's a more laid back, almost ambient score which is a little different from his usual body of work, while still harking back to his older works.

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Darren Rea