How much time did she actually spend working at RCP? Some of her music is decidedly un-RCP like.
Well she has absolutely no credits to any HZ / other RCP related films so I'm not sure she could have stayed there long, but it was enough to warrant HZ making a whole post about her saying how she had "put in the hours" for him when she had worked there, so I guess it was a long enough time for him to follow her work afterwards.
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The score absolutely takes a few notes from John Williams, Michael Giacchino, John Powell, as well as SubVision, Visual Music, Daft Punk, Steve Roach, Matthew McCauley, David Fang, Sarah Schachner, Murray Gold, Michael Kamen, Alexander Brandon, James Horner, Basehead, and definitely Michael Stearns.
Look, I always like to remind everyone of the famous Latin phrase "de gustibus non est disputandum", as what works for or speaks to one person won't necessarily be true for others. And that's okay.
That said, speaking for my particularly tastes: I love how the score hits the ground running in the opening track ('Captain Marvel') with a forceful, major-scale march, and reminds me a bit of James Horner's work on The Rocketeer, and then segues in 'Waking Up' to an echoing feminine sound reminiscent of Lisa Gerrard's work on Gladiator, before making this quirky shift to a tone that sounds like something that makes me think of outer space, starting at 00:33. It brings to mind Michael Stearns' 'Planetary Unfolding', Sarah Schachner's 'Anthem' (particularly the first two tracks of that score - Legion of Dawn/Valour), and David Fang's work on Andromeda (see for example: 'Core, Logic, and Avatar').
It's terrific hearing little bits of sound-editing that bring to mind Basehead's work on the Unreal score ('Mothership Law and Core/Skaarj Generator/The Dardening (Erosion)') as well as a hint of Accadia's 'Into the Dawn'.
Track 04, Why Do You Fight? again, utilises counter-point by fusing a very mild base-beat with strings atop it, and then launches into 'Let's Bring Him Home', that manages to bring to mind Mark Mothersbaugh's work on Thor: Ragnarok (which is always OK, as I enjoyed that score) and a hint of Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy.
The little Don Davis flourishes circa his work on The Matrix ('More Problems') brought a distinct smile to my face, as did the use of what I *think* are timpani drums in the background on occasion? I can never say to a timpani.
That Pinar manages to bring a slight Rachel Portman influence in "This Isn't Goodbye" with the use of piano and strings was a nice touch as well before heading off into a rousing denouement/climax that reminded me a bit of 80's era Alan Silvestri, with the use of strings overlaid atop a flute, with the use of some trills and a hint of a staccato to propel the piece, bringing immediately to mind the 'End Credits (Raiders March)' from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (particularly at about the 2:07 and onwards point in the 13-track edition score of the Last Crusade).
There's such a diverse sonic range to this score, so many interesting and diverse audio flourishes and touches, to many different styles and approaches integrated, including the utilisation of what I suspect are (but I cannot say for certain) synth effects and sounds, taking thus a cue from Vangelis as well.
It's just this wonderful tapestry of different styles and approaches, all woven together. Every track offers something different. I can hear bits of Kamen's X-Men, Vangelis' The Bounty, bits of The Rocketeer, Willow, Tron: Legacy, Star Wars, Planetary Unfolding, and so much more. Each track is just so damn interesting.
It might not work for you - which as I said before, is totally normal and okay! - but it certainly speaks to me!
Cheers,
-S
To me on my first listen before even having seen the film, I had felt she had gotten a heavy influence from Blake Neely's Supergirl Main Theme, you can hear the exact string rhythm (albeit faster) in the Captain Marvel theme, which I believe is in the second half of the End Credits. The other score I felt like it "wanted" to be was Lockington's Percy 2. There were a few particular moments that had sounded a whole lot like Lockington's theme he wrote for Percy 2. And I agree with the Williamses / Giacchino references, some of the brass riffs / orchestrations sounded exactly like some of the Star Wars action cues of the most recent episodes. In terms of Giacchino, I think she had went the Incredibles route, as some of the cues sounded vaguely familiar from that particular score.
Some of the other Giacchino scores that it reminds me of would be Fallen Kingdom, Jurassic World, and obviously Incredibles 2 as well. Those are all pretty brass-heavy scores, and the orchestration here seems more or less the same. We know how much the Disney execs LOVE Giacchino, so it makes sense they are pretty used to having that sound in almost all of their films. It's pretty much the whole reason he got the Rogue One job.
Honestly to me, the Lisa Gerrard reference doesn't really stick with me much, as I don't think she was trying to evoke an ethnic sort of vocal-work here. When I heard Waking Up I immediately thought of this track from Percy 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVOLZQn1qEk
Another female that sounds a lot like this type of vocal style would be Tori Letzler in Thor 2: The Dark World, which would make a lot of sense considering how that's actually a recurring theme in the MCU, more than you can say for most of them.
Why Do You Fight? is in the very beginning of the film when she is fighting Yon-Rogg (Jude Law's character) right? Honestly, for some of the more "synth-heavy" cues I heard more Aquaman than I did Thor: Ragnarok. I would be curious to know if there were actually any additional composers on Captain Marvel, as it would be interesting to see if Andrew Kawczynski had worked on this film as well. :P
I'm still going to give some time for the score to grow on me overall, nothing specifically had stood out to me in the film besides a few of the brass runs / synth arpeggiations were pretty neat and unique to my ears. I don't know if it was the fact that the score didn't seem to be mixed too loudly for the scenes that had music, but hopefully after a few more listens of the OST I will come to a proper conclusion as to what I think of the score. For me personally, during the post credits scene, the music that I heard playing during that scene was instantly recognizable to me. Not going to spoil anything obviously, but it was the most memorable piece out of the entire film, but that's also because that's one of my favorite scores of recent years, and I have listened to it a ton. I would ramble on more, but I see no point until I begin more familiar with the score.
Thank you for sharing your insight and thoughts, Shevchyk!
PS: I'd be quite interested to know what everyone thinks of the "sound"? heard @ about 1:52 in the cue Breaking Free on the OST. I can't really make out what kind of Instrument would actually make that sound, but to me at first it had sounded like a woman screaming something. It almost sounds like straight-up dialogue. Would be curious to know if anyone else had heard that. Also, half-way through this cue reminded me of the "sound" of very high strings that you hear in almost all of Doyle's scores, but most notably the Goblet of Fire. He definitely does something very specific to the strings in his scores that make them sound the way they do, and that is definitely somewhat emulated halfway through this track.
Maybe it's just me, but does anyone hear sparking similarities to Dumbledore's theme in Crimes of Grindelwald to the track "Learning the Truth" at 2:17...maybe it's just me but that's where I felt that cello line really wanted to go!
Also, I honestly can't remember the last score I heard utilize the electric guitar in a classical film score...was it really just Attack of the Clones? (Track 8, Hot Pursuit.)