The Spice of Life

Tonight's pen-penultimate episode of Lost reminds me to sing the praises of up-and-coming composer Michael Giacchino, who composes the score for that most-excellent series, as well as for its sister show Alias. I hadn't heard of Giacchino before getting hooked on Lost, but his music for the show grabbed me from the beginning. A lot of what he does is "effect" work--low, ominous harp notes; screechy dissonances; and flaring trumpets evoking various moods of foreboding. But he has also been able to feature some tremulously delicate and beautiful melodic work, most notably the pieces underscoring John Locke's big secret reveal moment in an early episode and a funereal moment from a recent episode.

I have been hoping for a Lost soundtrack, but in the interim I picked up his score for The Incredibles, expecting (and hoping for) more of this style, not having seen the film prior to listening to the score. I was surprised, and impressed, by how different his work here was from his Lost music. The The Incredibles score is jazzy, fun, retro-60s stuff, full of swinging themes and very James Bonds-y action cues. Completely different. And now I see that he has written the songs for the upcoming Muppets Wizard of Oz ABC television movie. Given the presence of Ashanti as Dorothy, much of the music, or so I've read, will be in an R&B style. Excellent! I eagerly await it, as well as whatever style he decides to jump into next.

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