Milan Records (Sony Music) releases Neon’s Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the darkly comedic psychological thriller She Dies Tomorrow. In the movie directed by Amy Seimetz (who also writes, produces and acts), Amy wakes up convinced she is going to die the next day. Her life begins to unravel as her delusions become contagious to those around her, and they all descend into tantalising madness. The score is composed by Mondo Boys, who knew the score had to handle the depth of an existential crisis without omitting the subtle comedy. They liaised with Amy and went for an indulgent dark opera. She was so impressed by one of their tracks that it became an inspiration for filming the rest of the movie...

We begin with 'Le Portail Ouvre', an angelic opening full of hope and aspiration, with the hint of brief choral voices. 'Requiem, K.626 Lacrimosa' in main encompasses a well-known operatic classical piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It reminds me of the music used in Endeavour, the TV series about a young Morse. 'Desert Through the Door' has a Celtic feel to it, with stark wood-knocking sounds and angelic voices. 'Le Portail I' is a melancholy, atmospheric piece – again with the voices. 'Desert from the Car' incorporates a simple theme with pagan percussion noises. 'Le Portail II' has a simple bass sound, but is the first track to apply any real drama to the proceedings. 'Desert from a Dune Buggy' is so similar to 'Desert Through the Door' that it’s by definition unnoteworthy. 'The Morning After' includes a clock-like regulator with a three-note repeated sequence. We conclude with 'Requiem, K.626 Lacrimosa (Reprise)', another section of track 2’s Mozart music.

I have to wonder why the two main pieces which feature Mozart have not been edited together as a longer suite. All of these tracks are pretty short and, as I’ve mentioned in a couple of other soundtrack reviews, it would have been nice to have had the composers restructure some of the similar excerpts into lengthier music which has continuity for the soundtrack and can be appreciated as a completed whole. As it stands, this score has some nice little samples but comes across as having no real substance. It’s very similar at each point, with only slight variations or sound effects. I’m intrigued by the film itself, which sounds like my sort of thing; however, the lack of variation and length here leaves the release found wanting.

4

Ty Power