Jonny Greenwood: There Will Be Blood

Label: Nonesuch

Do not buy this expecting it to sound like Radiohead just because Greenwood’s their genius guitarist. And I don’t mean that in a Thom Yorke album kinda way, either – this is an orchestral soundtrack heavily influenced by several major 20th-century composers. So buy it expecting it to sound like Krysztof Penderecki and Olivier Messiaen. Or buy it expecting it to sound like the highly accomplished work of a musical talent who refuses to be hemmed in by genre boundaries and expectations. Or buy it because you really, really liked the string arrangement on Radiohead’s “How to Disappear Completely” and want to hear Greenwood go way past that into musical areas that will alternately give you sweet blissful dreams (that’s the Messiaen influence) and sweat-drenched-wake-up-screaming nightmares (Penderecki’s influence). Wow. (Steve)