Last year may only be a memory, but its film themes linger in the mind.

Must-listen track:Dont Let Go

When does sound become music and music become sound?

When youre so busy not breathing that your ears cant tell the difference any more.

A thrilling action theme with no percussion?

Its out of this world.

Never has the word soundtrack been more apt.

In fact, this might just be the best of the lot.

Repeat listens, though, reveal all kinds of inspired touches.

All the while, six notes loom large over the score, seemingly attached to nothing.

If I needed you, would you come to me?

Would you come to me for to ease my pain?

they ask each other on-stage.

The singers may be Belgian, but those American blues have rarely felt so raw.

A jukebox of painful honesty, every banjo and fiddle-filled cover is a three-minute window into the characters devastation.

Think Blue Valentine with country music.

Why so high up the list of 2013 scores?

The fact that it kicks off with Eiffel 65s Blue (Da Be Dee) is a bonus.

Must-listen track:The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra

Thats it!

A repeating structure, riff and beat tapping out the same universal tune across time and space?

Youll be hearing it in your dreams for weeks.

Then, as the awkward, on-screen bromance begins to flourish, those signature explosions start to happen.

Sometimes, the simplest of tunes can be the most affecting.

Must-listen track:Piano Duet

Was there a movie more carefully crafted last year thanStoker?

It might well be the most erotic piano playing ever caught on movie.

Thanks to Parks precise direction, that audible frisson sends a shiver through every frame.

But accompanying the traditional chords and themes are fantastically unconventional lyrics.

Let the storm rage on!

shouts Idina Menzels Elsa, the cold never bothered me anyway.

The answer lies partly in Fernando Velazquezs score.

That rhythm infects everything else in the score (Meld-merized), but Giacchinos only getting started.

Must-listen track:Earth

2013 was another year where Hans Zimmer turned in several scores.

Because rather than his usual minor thirds, Zimmer went for another intermission entirely: a major fifth.

Its Zimmer paying tribute to John Williams.

The rest is drums.

Drums, drums and more drums.

Who needs 12 drummers when you’re free to have five notes?

And all the while, that clapping continues.

Applause isnt something youd normally call intimate, butAint Them Bodies Saintsmakes it exactly that.

A swooning little masterpiece.

Its because of Geoff Zanelli.

The result is a fizzing, popping, careening composition that gallops along with irresistible enthusiasm.

Its so good that (whisper it) it might actually be better than Rossinis original music.

Someone give Zanelli a full score immediately.

A Young Forest Growing Up Under Your Meadows.

The Sun Is But A Morning Star.

You bet it is.

To so skilfully match sound and visuals is impressive on such a tiny budget.

To do it while also writing, directing and starring in a movie is just scary.

But the show is stolen, inevitably, by Anne Hathaway.

But the songs will get even the most sedated viewers toes tapping.

Who knew your ears could get hungry?

), Rick Ross (100 Black Coffins) and Anthony Hamilton (Freedom).

Theres even one from Ennio Morricone: Ancora Qui.

For those who like the pop numbers, thats the kind of thing they like.

A near-silent movie starring Robert Redford and nobody else, stranded in the middle of the ocean?

The gravelly Amen, sung by Eberts cracked vocals, is a perfectly pitched finale.

Another year, another chance for John Williams to come out of retirement and score another movie.

This time, its SpielbergsLincoln.

If its reminiscent at times of the pastoral simplicity of Carter BurwellsTrue Grit,thats no bad thing.

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