CD REVIEW - Following


Following
Music by David Julyan
Cinefonia Records CFR017
21 Tracks 44:46 mins

This compilation of film music by David Julyan is quite a contrast to the other Cinefonia releases I recently reviewed. Whereas they were filled with beautiful, accessible orchestral music, two of the three scores presented here are realised electronically and are quite experimental and challenging in nature.
Two of these scores are for collaborations with director Christopher Nolan, with the acclaimed Memento the best known, but the album starts with ten tracks from an earlier collaboration on 1998's Following. The score opens with a weird industrial electronic mover, which crops up several more times during the subsequent tracks. This is followed by the dreamlike "Theme," which features piano and synth strings over a persistent electronic figure. "Blond" is a melancholy tracks, again for synth strings. The remainder of the tracks largely consist of variations on these themes.
Two tracks from Memento follow. "Trailer Park Chase" is an electronic action and suspense cue, whilst "How Can I heal?" is a sad synth piece.
The final score in this collection is for Colin Teague's film Spivs, and is the most recent score, dating from two years ago. Thankfully, Julyan diversifies here, introducing live musicians and there is actually something warm and melodic to latch onto, starting with "Auntie Vee's House," with its tender piano and cello-lead theme. "Flirting" is a semi-comical, double bass and piano-lead walker, whilst "Jenny" is a brief beat-driven mover. "Victoria Park" develops the "Auntie Vee" music, whilst "Jack Leaves" is suitably sad, but things end on a high note with the hopeful piano and strings of "Goodbye to the Kids."
Magali-Niguyen-The provides a brief introduction to the music featured here in the pullout notes for this gatefold digipack presentation, which also features a filmography of the composer.