COLUMN: ‘Hunger Games’ soundtrack strays away from plotline
With all the hype surrounding “The Hunger Games” film, the companion CD, “Songs from District 12 and Beyond,” seemed like just another ploy to drain the fans of the final dollars they had not spent on “Peeta” bread and souvenir mockingjay pins. I remember a similar CD was released to go with Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” that also featured a plethora of songs inspired by the film, but not featured there.
However, commercial sellout aside, it is an incredibly solid album that can stand on its own for the three people in the world who do not know anything about “The Hunger Games,” but is also a tonally appropriate driving companion to the dark novels upon which it is based. The album’s strength is the range of artistic interpretation that rose from a single book into such a wide and eclectic variety of songs.
The choice of artists on the CD is unique for the highest grossing film of the year, as it is comprised almost entirely of indie artists. Only a few can even be considered well known. The sort of people who seem inclined to buy into a companion CD to “The Hunger Games” don’t seem to match the artist choices, which include Birdy, a British singer young enough to be reaped for “The Hunger Games” herself, whose claim to fame has been her cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love,” and Glen Hansard, whose prominence comes from his stint with the Frames and his low-budget film “Once.”
Even the headline song of the bunch, “Safe and Sound,” is a paradoxical collaboration between Taylor Swift, one of the biggest names in music, and The Civil Wars, who, before this single, were relatively unknown to the mainstream music world.
However, the passion behind the music is what ultimately shines through. The album genuinely feels like it is made by and for fans. I would even dare guess the artists who wrote the songs actually read “The Hunger Games,” possibly even before they wrote the songs.
Every artist has created a song infused with the emotions of the book in a range of genre and subject. From Miranda Lambert’s “Run Daddy Run,” which feels like an Appalachian mining song, to the Decemberist’s energetic yet dark “One Engine,” each song is infused with energy and unique life. The tone of the album not only lives in harmony with but also enhances both the reading of the book and the film adaptation.
Unfortunately, a few of the songs, though stirring and lovely, have little to do with the actual film. Neko Case’s “Nothing to Remember” is a beautiful melody that fits well with the rest of her repertoire, but seems like it was written without the movie in mind and was then tweaked to try to incorporate aspects of the film. Its tone doesn’t match the story it is supposedly inspired by. Its light, airy melody does not match the story it is telling of Katniss, a young woman jaded by life and now walking to her death. It was as though Neko Case was asked to write a song for the CD and then forgot so, when they called her and asked for it, dug something out of her archives that seemed to maybe have something to do with the movie.
But even the songs like Neko Case’s that don’t seem to fit the theme are well written and performed, leading to an all around solid CD that covers the wide range of emotion and experience in the film. The high points are the somber “Kingdom Come” by the Civil Wars – sans Taylor Swift – Glen Hansard’s “Take the Heartland,” the only song of the bunch that seems to tonally achieve the brutality of the film, and Arcade Fire’s “Abraham’s Daughter,” the only song featured in the actual film, whose minor key, chanting lyrics and driving rhythm calls to mind an anthem of the sadistic Capitol that spawned the idea for the arena featured in the novels.
Fans of “The Hunger Games” will be sure to flock to explore a soundtrack beyond District 12. But you don’t have to swear allegiance to Team Gale or Team Peeta to appreciate the artistry woven through this album. As a companion to the films, it is insightful and enhancing. As a standalone, it is a unique, enlightening and ultimately successful experiment in presenting 15 artists with the same source material and letting them bring their own creativity and expression to it.
– m.van911@aggiemail.usu.edu