MARK ISHAM | Lions For Lambs

There are very few composers working in Hollywood nowadays who truly carry a distinctive offset of quality in their work. One of them is Mark Isham.


With an instantly recognizable sound, Isham - a renowned trumpeter with a huge jazz / classical musical background, has created a characteristic identity which has largely matured and expanded during the last 5 years. His outcome has seen him wandering through various musical genres, styles and moods; from dark film noir and ominous thrillers to vividly uplifting and romantic and from pure jazz to classically-colored orchestral outbursts (Racing Stripes, Eight Below) his writing has been ever-evolving and always genuine.


Lions for Lambs, one of his many scores for 2007 and for Robert Redford's latest drama, is another surprise. The heavily-criticized movie evolves around the story of two determined students who follow the inspiration of one idealistic professor into attempting to do something important with their lives. When the two make the bold decision to join the battle in Afghanistan,their professor is both moved and distraught.Now, as the students fight for survival in the field, they become the string that binds together two disparate stories on opposite sides of America.


Mark Isham's approach to the musical side of the film is apparently dramatic and esoteric but one that will greatly surprise us as we proceed down the score's unfolding. The 56-year old New Yorker has evidently built his work around 3 basic elements; firstly, we find the first trait right from the very opening cue, "Lions for Lambs main titles" in what is essentially an 8-note electronic motif that forms a very tight musical basis for pounding percussion, low electronic bass and dreamy female synth choir to unfold. Coupled with high brass lines and particularly tight percussion rhythms, the piece instantly brings John Powell's magnificent work for United 93 to mind, a fact that both rings as a very pleasant but also smart reference. Serving as the primal element of "Lions for Lambs"s first half, this firm combination repeats itself throughout the first half of the score, like in "A new plan", "Battle tent" and "Take a b".


Coupling with the afore-mentioned main theme, we find a complementary motif on the cello and low strings but of significantly darker and less modern approach, firstly in the second cue on album ("The berm"). The touching theme's escorted by driving ostinati and brass lines which further reminiscent Powell's United 93, especially in comparison with this piece's correspondingly slashing percussion section. "11" and "One handed" further empower the very motif's appearances but also the dark tone of the score's first half.


In "Breathe" we get presented with what's to be the most important element of the score later on. The glorious trait about it is that you can't actually tell nor realize its importance right from its very first appearances as Isham builds and empowers it slowly during the course of the score using very clever arrangements and combinations. This piece, "breathe", slowly introduces the third theme, essentially carried by an unusually intimate and offbeat cello coupled with smooth and emotional strings. Two relatively short but strikingly bold appearances by a couple of stunningly ominous and aggressive cues, namely "firefight" and "get to me" are what briefly interrupt the development of this third theme. The former are made out of intense brass lines and pounding drums, fast string ostinati and pulsing electronics, all very bold traces of the afore-mentioned United 93 inclinations but coupled with a distinct Isham-colored approach of dissonant trumpet and brass combinations.


From this point onward, the last part of the score shifts and is completely taken by this third theme, as heard for the first time in "Breathe", which we discussed earlier. "Pink's pilots" further braces it up until "Taxi Ride" with its impressive shift at a point where the score gets at its most dramatic, powerful and effective."Last Shift", just a step before the album's conclusion, is one singularly beautiful and spectacular piece. Opening with the first appearance of the piano - surprisingly late for an Isham score, where subtly touching strokes of strings color with a far more positive note in contrast to what we've heard so far and where vivid ostinati held by violins and violas provide a tight rhythmical structure to the whole. Progressively building up, both in loudness and also tension, strings with discreet brass lines lead to a heavenly trumpet and choir outburst and a climax led by the third theme. A solid and extremely powerful performance by the full orchestra carries the latter brightly and broadly, in violent contrast to the esoteric melancholy of the same theme as heard previously in "breathe".


Coming to complete is the final cue on album, "end credits", essentially another appearance of the third theme in all its glory. A fiddle-like string instrument carries it ontop of interweaving. soothing ostinati by high strings and low brass, eventually functioning as a connecting bridge to the final and celebrant reappearance of the theme by full orchestra. Ending the whole score with a hovering high major chord on strings, ISham adds the perfect ethereal and beautifully fragile ending to a very emotional score overall.



The music for Lions for Lambs - as showcased above, is very powerful. From its small-scale, offbeat and intimate beginning and through the pulsing electronics, beats and percussion with loud brass and trumpet and dark touches all the way up to the gorgeously emotional and uplifting conclusion, Isham provides a colorful musical journey from intense darkness to stirring brightness in what's possibly his most mature work to date.


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