Artist: Clint Mansell
Song: Death Is the Road to Awe
Album: The Fountain Soundtrack
Mood: Peaceful bliss with a hint of epic
In my office we like to indulge in music Fridays. Recently we started doing themes and we had to choose five songs we would want to hear before we die. Well the full scenario was we went crazy, murdered some people, and now await lethal injection. At first I was tempted to pick some of my all time favorite songs, but with a little more effort I realized I didn’t want the last song to pass through my ears to be hard rock or Lady Gaga (those were my first three!). I want something beautiful, but not super depressing.
I turned to quite possibly my favorite soundtrack of all time, The Fountain. The entire movie is about learning to accept death and that death is certainly not end. It is the beginning of something new and beautiful. The song “Death Is the Road to Awe” seemed more than appropriate, and not just because of the title itself. The song appears at the culmination of the movie, when Hugh Jackman’s character accepts both the death of his wife and his inevitable demise.
What makes this song truly epic is it’s sweeping crescendos and decrescendos. Even as the intensity grows, it’s still peaceful, still incredibly beautiful. There is definitely true sorrow in there because let’s face it, even if you accept your own death, it’s not a happy thought knowing your life will soon be over. Around the 5:00 mark is my favorite piece. This is when the song switches to a truly epic melody, the moment you realize you can rise above this fear. This part never fails to give me goosebumps. And at 6:29 you think the song has ended, but the intensity rises again, lulls for a brief moment and bursts into sheer amazement at 7:36. If I were to die to this song, I would die a happy woman. After leading such an epic life, the only way to go out is on an epic note. This is exactly what this song does. Clint Mansell, you are a genius.
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