Life as a House

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

From jazz composer to more emotional artist to blazing heroic fighter, that is the path Mark Isham has taken over the many years he has composed for music. Perhaps that's not entirely true, because there were always exceptions in his career. But its safe to say he has developed in the musical genre by unleashing various styles whether it was jazz (The Cooler and The Majestic) with more inspiring heroic material (Racing Stripes, Miracle and Men of Honor). Yet Isham is also ready to unleash pure emotion. With Fly Away Home he has given us a reason to adore him, with Moonlight Mile and Life as a House he has given us no doubt anymore to his potential in the softer genre. With Life as a House he unleashes 3 genres with 3 themes, and in 40 minutes they all work in unison to bring harmony, pleasure and emotion. With the more upbeat style it opens, and 'If I Could kiss You' we have a somewhat eccentric opening for airy percussion and a tinkling atmosphere, and here is where Isham opens his more playful theme, which works to present the more eccentric behavior of Kevin Kline's character. It further is heard with delights in 'Round Robin' where the percussion grows to a brief but pleasant finish, or 'Sunscreen and Bicycles' adds even piano and what seems like a harpsichord to even more strange delights (kinda Thomas Newman sometimes), but in all the pleasantness, it achieves its goal. Further we have the more building up material, the material that moves softly from its sprightly nature to a more emotional line, while still bringing the bounciness and this too is reflected in a theme, 'A Leap' and 'Building a Family' are bringing this nicely forward. The last track by the way is featured in the trailer of Spanglish to get an idea of things.

But its the basic transition from bounciness to emotion that does the trick with this score, and Isham shows his purest form of soft melancholy in various tracks, 'Love is not Enough' and 'I'm Happy Today' create the same tone, only the first does it with soft but lovely piano while the other creates it more through strings. And its when Isham adds everything together that the best results are reached, when the strings and piano form together one whole and where its reaches the emotional strength of the crescendo, 'Tear it Down', 'Leap of Faith' (with a nice soft crescendo) and 'I Built myself a Life' are reaching this with the final theme of the score, the most soft but beautiful one too. In other tracks, he creates subdued emotion by sometimes even a faint choral after touch, like in 'A Promise'. The only difference is heard in 'I'll Take this One', where a more serious mood is established through the piano and strings, but never down or moody. Altogether, its a nice pleasing listen and Isham makes sure the emotion is changing exactly when it needs to with something more bouncy or airy. But it remains in its form of dignity to not resolve in lighthearted foolishness. Life as a House will especially please those who like emotional soft listens with a right kind of emotion and bounciness without resorting to big waving finales. Because Mark Isham lets the music work as a footnote to the character development of the film itself, and only swells softly when the scene requires it and no dialogue is heard. In that case Life as a House is a winner. It draws you into its atmosphere when its creating airy bounciness, and when you're paying attention it moves you with its gentle emotional touch. One of the better Mark Isham scores out there, and one that pleases me for a nice relaxing background listen with still enough themes to not completely ignore it.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. If I Could Kiss You (3.39)

2. Round Robin (2.55)

3. Tear It Down (4.04) Excellent Track

4. Love Is Not Enough (3.04)

5. I'm Happy Today (3.11)

6. A Leap (1.03)

7. Sunscreen And Bicycles (2.57)

8. A Promise (3.31)

9. Build This House With Me (2.15)

10. Leap Of Faith (3.16) Excellent Track

11. Building A Family (1.57)

12. I'll Take This One (4.04)

13. I Built Myself A Life (5.48) Excellent Track

Total Length: 41.51

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=== Link to Composer Site: Mark Isham ===