Lakeshore Records release Carter Burwell's score for Wonderstruck. Based on Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel, the movie follows Ben and Rose, children from two different eras, who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry...

I know it's done for marketing purposes and to get consumers to buy the release from a specific store, but I do wish labels would stop issuing "special edition" versions of albums. You can pick this up anywhere and the score will contains 28 tracks, but if you buy the special edition from Amazon it will contain 31 tracks. We received the standard edition for review, so can't comment on the additional tracks. And, unless you're aware that a special edition is being released you could end up buying the standard edition and feeling cheated.

Carter Burwell delivers some heartbreakingly beautiful moments here. Tracks like 'The Unisphere' are subtle and are multi-layered little gems. Likewise, 'The Story of Rose' is rich and varied track which houses an intricate theme. There are a lot of subtle, ambient background tracks here, but the occasional themes more than make up for this.

This is a score that you'll get a lot of listening pleasure out of whether you've seen the movie or not.

7

Darren Rea