Milan Records releases The Menu original motion picture soundtrack by Grammy award-winning saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer Colin Stetson. In the movie a couple travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises...

On the first play through of the score for The Menu, I wasn't overly convinced it was a soundtrack worth releasing as an album in its own right. Tracks like 'The Mess' and 'Fallen Angel', whilst technically intriguing, were painful to listen to. Now, I'm sure they work wonders in the movie to heighten the onscreen imagery, but listened to on their own merits they just sounded a little self-indulgent.

Then we get wonderful, multi-layered offerings like 'Take the Evening Air' and 'The Purifying Flame' and I was totally hooked. What on the surface seems cold and clinical houses an almost ethereal theme.

Discussing the music, composer Colin Stetson says: "From my first reading of the script to our last moments on the mix stage, my experience creating the music on this film has been an absolute joy, as the themes, refrains, and aesthetic have seemed to jump right off of the page and screen for me with every brilliant turn of phrase, perfect edit, and wickedly delivered performance. It is pure pleasure working with such an incredible team and I am truly grateful for the whole of it. The first theme I wrote for The Menu is that of the Amuse Bouche scene, wherein the first wink and tease of some as yet unseen darker subtext for the evening’s proceedings is peeking out. In ‘All Aboard,’ that theme is all frolic and pomp, of our diners blissfully unaware and delighting in the lavishness and importance of it all."

On balance I enjoyed this, but only to dip in and out of. There are perhaps a few too many atmospheric background themes, which make this one I'd only recommend to those who loved the movie.

6

Darren Rea