Plaza Mayor Company releases Erwann Chandon soundtrack album for the French comedy Open Season (Chasse Gardée). The movie follows a family who have left the city to move to the countryside, but find their dream turn into a nightmare when they realize that their friendly neighbours are allowed to hunt on their property...

I totally fell in love with Erwann Chandon's uplifting, feel good score for Chasse Gardée. I think this was, on the whole, because it reminded me of some of the childhood movie scores I grew up with in the '80s. There's the odd nod and a wink to the work of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, and there's also a loving homage to the scores of Alan Silvestri (most notably his work on Back to the Future).

The album contains 25 tracks (26 min, 58 sec) of pure nostalgic heaven... Well, for an old soundtrack collector like me, it did. I've listened to this almost repeatedly for weeks and every time I play it through I find more little nuggets to love.

From the beautifully realised opening 'Chasse Gardée - Main Theme' to the last note of the closing 'Bienvenue Chez Nous', this is an album that brought back so many happy memories. I don't know how Chandon managed to encapsulate my childhood so vividly, but he did, in glorious style.

I could have listened to so much more in a similar vein and now I'm off to check out his back catalogue. I already reviewed, and enjoyed, his work on Complètement Cramé! and I'm now keen to discover the rest of his work.

10

Darren Rea