British composer Harry Gregson-Williams reunites once more with Ben Affleck after scoring his directorial debut in the Oscar nominated Gone Baby Gone. From pensive piano solos and mournful strings to full blown electronic storms, The Town demonstrates Harry Gregson-Williams’s distinctive musical language. Having scored all Tony Scott’s films since the 1998 Enemy of the State, Harry Gregson-Williams is considered one of the pioneers in combining electronic music textures and orchestral elements in film scores...

The Town represents an interesting collection of styles and themes. The biggest influence seems to be the work of Thomas Newman (The Shawshank Redemption) which is evident in several tracks, including 'Charlestown' and 'The Necklace'.

I did find that there were quite a few elements in here that sounded a little too similar to tracks on the Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare console game which Gregson-Williams composed. These tracks include 'Bank Attack', 'FBI Show & Tell', 'Healing and Stealing'. 'Nuns With Guns', 'Cathedral of Boston', 'Fenway', 'Making the Switch' and 'Leaving'.

This soundtrack's main, and most beautiful, theme is incorporated in the tracks 'Doug Reflects' and 'The Letter'.

While not a "must buy" soundtrack, there are enough interesting themes and emotions packed in here to ensure that it is a score you'll want to revisit time and again. Personally I loved it, being a huge fan of Gregson-Williams's Call of Duty music, but it won't be to everyone's taste.

8

Darren Rea