Conrad Pope's score for Allen Wolf's independent thriller In My Sleep, about a man who wakes up naked in the middle of a cemetery, is a tense and sensual thriller score written for orchestra with poignant parts for solo piano...

The soundtrack to In My Sleep has such an incredibly diverse range of styles crammed into such a neat little package, that at times I felt I was listening to a 'best of' compilation of an accomplished A-lister.

Conrad Pope's music is incredible and shows such a wide range that it feels more like a lifelong labour of love than a score banged out under deadline for an independent movie. While the average soundtrack collector may not have heard of Pope before, they will certainly have heard his musical arrangements, as he has been responsible for orchestrating numerous scores including many of John Williams's soundtracks.

For me the highlights (although to be fair there wasn't a track I disliked) include:

'Finding Gwen', which brought to mind elements of Angela Morley's wonderful score for Watership Down. There are also nods to Bernard Herrmann's music - most notably Vertigo and Psycho.

'Night Music' is a beautiful piano piece - which is also this score's main theme which is weaved throughout the tracks in one guise or another.

'Morning After' another beautiful theme, very similar to 'Night Music', which has splashes of Herrmann-esque moments.

'Doubts' has an interesting atmospheric build to it. It's a simple, yet effective track.

'Visions of Father' - I loved the quirky theme at the centre to this short track.

'Hiding the Knife', if I'm not mistaken is a very obvious nod to John Williams's 'Spyders' theme from Minority Report.

'Going Home' yet another piano based theme, which opens out into another emotive track.

'Reconciliation (Finale)' - sounds like a John Williams inspired track only with a lot more flair. This has elements of Minority Report crossed with Saving Private Ryan. The track opens paying homage to the main theme from Minority Report (which is best illustrated by the track 'New Beginning' on that soundtrack).

To be honest, I could have written a glowing passage for almost every track on this album, but have instead concentrated on those that truly stand out. Watch out for Conrad Pope's name in the future - if this score doesn't give him the recognition he rightly deserves, I don't know what will.

This, along with another of Movie Score Media's recent releases (Andrew Pearce's incredible Cinema Symphony), is one of the finest scores I've heard in a very long time.

10

Darren Rea