The gifted Christopher Gordon is a British-born composer who has spent the majority of his working career in Australia. With credits under his name like Moby Dick, On the Beach, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the demonic Salem’s Lot and of course the beautiful score for last year’s Mao’s Last Dancer, one could say that he’s a very special case of a composer indeed.
This score opens with a solemn and tragic string-led piece, “Immolation” only to set the tone and give in to dark choral writing in “Nightfall”, music that really creeps under your skin. This technique finds it way through the movie various times, for instance in the male choral version of “Subsider”.
In “Humans” we get the musical signature of the score, the complex Herrmannesque string lines ontop of discreetly apt electronics. Trumpets, horns and other brass make their appearance quickly in the score, eventually getting completed with woodwinds (both soli and tutti) and this making the orchestrational difference.
Standing out is the way Gordon chooses to emphasize the action cues in the film, with crisply clear but prominent rhythmic solo percussion, firstly appearing in “On the run”. One couldn’t be remained unmoved by the highly dramatic string-led piece for the movie’s most prominent scene, heard in the cue “In the sun”.
The score closes with a dynamic string ostinato-led piece, “Daybreak” which sets the perfect seal for this excellent score. Perhaps, it might bring ironic thoughts to some listeners’ minds too; when drawing lines and connecting this refined piece here with what Zimmer used to set a sonar identity for Chris Nolan’s Batman films.
It’s not frequently you get to experience such fresh and clever musical approaches to a genre which has been long suffering from cliched confrontations in every aspect. Whilst i was watching the film, i couldn’t help but to compare Gordon’s score with what such a standard Vampire hunting film would most probably get but a typical Hollywood-residing colleague of his. Sadly, we’ve got numerous such examples to spare.
I certainly wouldn’t expect to hear focused and self-conscious compositions in this type of film, busy Herrmann-esque string lines, film noir brass and woodwinds, and awe-inspiring choirs and soundscapes. What came as no surprise though, is the fact that such a score would only come by few contemporary film composers, and i am glad to say that Christopher Gordon is surely one of them.
Daybreakers might prove difficult and too ominous for some, but make no mistake here, under any circumstances: this is Film music with identity and character.
