Album Review: Here

Here
Music composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri

Orchestrated by Mark Graham

Score recorded at AIR Studios, London
Total album running time: 39 minutes
Available on Sony Music (digital)

Here marks Robert Zemeckis and Alan Silvestri's 40th anniversary working together, and film number 20. Always looking for an interesting way to tell a story, Here lets the camera stay in one spot and we see the various snapshots of time from the Ice Age to the present. Covering several storylines, families and plots is Silvestri's overarching music. 

There are two main themes appearing throughout the score, letting them criss cross over stories and generations. Silvestri keeps the style and instrumentation the same throughout the time periods, with a few exceptions noted later.  While the time periods are marked with handfuls of source songs, Silvestri's score is also given ample time free of dialogue, especially the prologue/main titles. On the album, the score cues are relatively short

Opening begins with gentle harp as piano takes over the warm A Theme. Woodwinds gently add into the Theme as it swells with a statement of the B Theme before returning to the A Theme. From this cue, we get the sense of the score and the beginning Silvestri's unabashedly sentimental journey. Why Am I Here? features strings, harp, piano and woodwind solos which is light and melancholy. 

Extinction builds the orchestra up with minor chords in the brass, choir and strings that could belong in several of his action scores. This is Here returns to the A Theme on solo flute before bringing in the larger orchestra, choir and contrapuntal melodies. A bit of tin whistle, guitar and fiddle join the B Theme as a reference to the house's Colonial past. The A Theme soars again with trumpet solo surrounded by high-pitched strings.  Necklace of Shells underscores the romance of the Indigenous couple with light woodwind and string textures. We also hear the necklace motif, representing the physical necklace, but also the changing of time itself.

Mammoth opens with a large brass statement of the B Theme, quickly returning to the magic wonder of the A Theme with twinkling harps and glockenspiels. Circle of Life begins with the necklace motif  which then is added to the A Theme and B Theme at the close. God Help Me contains some brief illusions to the past themes, this time a bit slower and sorrowful.  

The Necklace continues the necklace motif and blending the ascending piano motif from earlier. I Think She’s Going To Leave Me features more expressive solos and seemingly simple writing.  Sell the House breaks elements of the themes down, passing elements to different instruments and builds into some newer lines of music.

The Great Flood features some great choral textures and dissonances before going into the larger action statements for brass and percussion. The cue ends with a statement of the necklace motif. The beautiful solo writing continues into I’m Going to Sell the House.  The piano starts the A Theme, joined by the other instruments to great effect. I Love It Here begins with the strings and the rising piano motif before moving into the bare A Theme on piano. The orchestra begins to open up, as they crescendo to the biggest statement of the theme. It's a truly lovely moment that feels earned after seeing the passage of time for the characters played by Tom Hanks and Robin Wright.

Those not in favor of the shorter tracks, can relish the exquisitely long End Credits. First up is a slightly different version of the A Theme with subtle guitars and violin solo. The A Theme continues with featured brass counterpoint and then the lighter Colonial sounds.  The B Theme gets its appearance in between A Themes. It then transitions to the darker prehistoric music, as the twinkly variation of the A Theme takes us to the traditional piano and woodwind version of the main title. It's a lovely wrap-up of the main themes and is a great standout example of Silvestri's work on the film.

It's a short album, but works great in the film bridging the time and stories. If you swoon over the sweeping melodies of Forrest Gump, his suburb music for Cosmos, this warm music will wash over you like a throwback to a sweeter time. The film and the score know exactly which emotional buttons to push, and I think that's a welcome addition to the film.