It was only a matter of time before Bristol post-punks IDLES, took the reins on a movie soundtrack. Since the new wave-y CRAWLER album in 2021, I’ll say IDLES have been getting more “cinematic,” opting for full synth-led songs as opposed to the filthy, colossal post-punk guitar tracks. Personally, I’m in the latter camp and will always view 2017’s BRUTALISM as their best album, but the mainstream appeal of IDLES has exploded this once working-class punk band into a well-known juggernaut in the music world.
So here we are, Darren Aronofsky has a new movie called Caught Stealing, and IDLES have made the soundtrack. Some soundtracks stand the test of time, being so intrinsically linked to a film scene that you can’t separate them, like Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar, and some stand alone as amazing pieces of music; Vangelis’ Blade Runner: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, for example or basically any score work Jonny Greenwood does.
I haven’t seen this movie yet, so I can’t speak to the link between scenes, but I’ll say on the first initial listens it’s … fine. All of these songs are about the build, some cool bass riffs and siren-type guitar on “Kim’s Video,” and atmospheric synths on “Walk/Don’t Walk,” like most of IDLES’ music, but we never really get a truly explosive moment, save for “Cheerleader,” so they all kind of fall flat, unmemorable. Joe Talbot flexes his bravado on a few tracks, but many of the lyrics feel cookie-cutter and off the cuff, a bit phoned in. Maybe that was the intention, but it just feels like half baked TANGK tracks in my humble opinion. I’m also just sick of Talbot scremaing “whooooo,” whenever he is striving to get a word in. The good, unharnessed Talbot comes from “Police & Thieves,” which is way more of a crooner. “Coper,” might be the best track with its grimy, esoteric trip hop vibe, and a bringing a newer type of IDLES. “Flushing, Queens,” also has a great crime wave sound that makes me want to see the film, but yeah fully this soundtrack is pretty OK.
