October 23, 2013

  • Music from NBC's GRIMM

    NBC’s Grimm adds a fantasy element to the detective drama as elements of fairy tales intersect with Portland, Oregon.  The show began its third season this October.  Music for the series is by Richard Marvin who came to film music fans attention with his fine score for U-571 (2000).  For Grimm, he gets a chance to explore interesting blends of orchestral and electronic textures moving through tense backdrops and requisite stingers.

    As with many contemporary TV shows the first season of Grimm did not really have a proper main title.  Instead, there was a brief amount of atmospheric material to help set a fast sense of mood.  It opens this disc and is then followed by the slightly more substantial (30-second) main title which Marvin developed for season two.  The pulsations of this new theme certainly provide a bit more character than the bumper-like feel of the previous season.  The disc then continues with selections from throughout both seasons with episode titles identified along with the sequence name.  A rather melancholy waltz idea is the first of these in “Buying Gallbladder” (from Organ Grinder).  Here one can get both the sinister feel of the program with slight hints of ambient design set against a slightly creepy violin idea.  The latter is actually a rather good longer thematic thread.  There will be less of these opportunities, though Marvin certainly provides plenty of moments where thematic development can be drawn through the atmospheric musical landscapes.  The result is an often gothic-like horror style with touches of fantasy writing.  It is equally good that Marvin has a chance to provide larger swaths of musical support to help build tension like in “How to Kill an Ogre” (Game Ogre).  The presentation allows for good shifts between these somewhat orchestral moments, more ambient areas, and blends of electronics (the first example of which appears in “Call of the Wild” from Beeware which adds some moments of acid rock that will recur to add a contemporary edge elsewhere too).  Other interesting blends of instrumental sounds help make the listening experience here work quite well as the CD progresses.  Unlike many scores that incorporate horror-genre effects and electronic design sounds, Marvin manages to use these gestures in such a way that they work fine on their own.  The sequencing of the album insures that there is good alternation between thematically-driven tracks and those used to propel an action sequence or set up some new fantastical horror discovery.   All of these coming together excellently in the penultimate, and lengthy, “Nick vs. the Baron” from Goodnight Sweet Grimm.

    La-La Land’s release proves to be a great overview of Marvin’s work on Grimm.  Fans of the series and its music will certainly want to grab a copy to continue exploring the mysterious wonders of this television universe.  With some 78 minutes of music, this makes for an ample overview of the series' scores.