Life in a Day OST

Soundtracks are funny old things. When they feature alongside a film, they make sense – they’re doing precisely what they’re designed to do, complementing the images and provoking an emotional response from the audience. But played in a neutral space away from the picture, they sit oddly. That’s not to say that they’re haven’t been some decent recent soundtracks, Babel and Elite Squad being two excellent examples. But there needs to be a change in the way the product is presented to the public – a genuine attempt to construct a listenable start-to-finish disc (even if that means adding a few ‘tracks inspired by the film’ to the album). Otherwise soundtracks such as Life in a Day, accompanying the film directed by Kevin MacDonald using amateur video footage, become redundant and, frankly, rather dull.

The opening two tracks, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Waking Up’, sound like they could have been lifted from any Hollywood soundtrack. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise; their composer, Harry Gregson-Williams, has scored films including The Chronicles of Narnia. Of more interest is Matthew Herbert’s ‘A Day at a Time’, featuring the vocals of Ellie Goulding, which has a quirky, Bjork-like quality. Also intriguing is a track from a field recording of three Angolan women singing. But the rest is disappointing. What promises to be of most interest to Songlines readers – Baaba Maal singing ‘A Day at a Time’ – showcases his fantastic voice but just has too much schmaltzy stardust sprinkled over it. A disc for diehard fans of the film only.