The Spectacular Now (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2013 film The Spectacular Now directed by James Ponsoldt and starred Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. The film score is composed by Rob Simonsen and the soundtrack accompanying his score and three of the songs featured in the film was released through Lakeshore Records on July 30, 2013. The Spectacular Now (More Music from the Motion Picture) is the second album that featured more additional songs as heard in the film, and was released through Lakeshore Records on August 20, 2013.
Contents
Development
Rob Simonsen composed the music for The Spectacular Now. While he was also involved in another coming-of-age romantic comedy The Way, Way Back, Simonsen considered this to be a much darker and melancholic film than the former, despite being heartwarming, as it focused on teenage alcoholism, detachment from parents and self-esteem issues, which was much different from the teen comedies in the 1980s and it focused on a broader and pervasive habit of self-examination, which was shown in the complexities and psyches of the characters as well.
In the film, Sutter was a broadly likeable and outgoing character, and the music needed to get out of the way and create a cocoon around the transformation he undergoes through the course of the film, which was more spatial and textural rather than thematic, while focusing on the emotional conflicts of Sutter's internal world and the teenage romance, but also reaches outward to provide a fabric of tone of mood. The opening titles begin with a fun jazz brass piece which stemmed out from Ponsoldt's idea, when discussed about "drunken high school marching band" kind of vibe early on approached with that insight to provide Sutter an energy reminiscent of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, where the whole opening scene revolves around him glorifying his past and himself, until he meets Amy, his life changes. Sutter's romantic relationship with Amy was considered relatable, where in a sequence both share a kiss while walking in the woods, it provided all the good emotions in a relationship.
The instrumentation for The Spectacular Now featured an ethereal tone, where Simonsen used mangled samples, whirlies, glock, harp harmonics, guitars, synths, bass and drums as well as reverbs and tape emulations. He further wanted to mix the 5.1 surround sound of the score wider and spacious, with some cues having certain sounds going on in the two front speakers for a bit, and for a certain emotional moment that occurs, the sound started to fill up the side and rear speakers, to provide the feeling of being engulfed in the moment, being subtle and cool.
Reception
Jonathan Delp of The Audio Glow stated that the soundtrack "perfectly captures a teenage memory in the making". Katy Vans of Blueprint wrote "the soundtrack full of tracks composed by Rob Simonsen is a whimsical journey of mellow loveliness." Jake Wilson of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "Rob Simonsen's ambient score evokes a dreamy adolescent sense of marking time". Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote "Rob Simonsen's original music companions both the film and the soundtrack quite nicely". Jason Sandford of Ashvegas called it a "light but intricate score".
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes: