Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy Soundtrack (Album Review)
Monday, 20 December 2010
Written by Rhys Morgan
Daft Punk have been absent from our ears for five years now, and by many, they have been sorely missed. In early 2009 it was announced that the French duo would be scoring Disney's 'Tron: Legacy'. Many questioned whether they had bitten off more than they could chew by opting to soundtrack an entire motion picture. Well they hadn't. This is one of the finest electronic scores in recent memory and it is truly worthy of following on from the legendary score of the original which was composed by Wendy Carlos.
I urge you not to come into this hoping for Daft Punk's known and loved addictive repetitiveness and their subtle comedic undertones because you're going to be left feeling cheated. You need to be open minded, you need to remember that this is a soundtrack to visual images. It works sublimely well when experiencing the movie, but it can be appreciated in equally high regard without the pictures.
In it's opening the album is hugely orchestral, yet extremely minimalist. You'll probably struggle to even recognise that Daft Punk were responsible for this music until you start to move deeper into the album. There is a light dabbling of synth early on but nothing like you would be hoping for. 'Recognizer' is the first big track, with its bellowing bass blows, it's sounds being very reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's work on the 'Inception' soundtrack. Still no Daft Punk.
But that all changes. On 'Rinzler' the electronics take over, and its glorious. The classic Daft Punk loops are here and blended perfectly with drums and strings. And this continues through the middle of the album. This is spectacular electronic music. Fizzing licks are perfectly layered on these foreboding strings. This middle section posses the finest tracks here. 'The Game Has Changed', 'Outlands', 'End of Line' are all dripping in Daft Punk's unquestionable talents.
I'm a sucker for soundtrack's. The epic scale of the instrumental is awe inspiring at times. But there is one glaring issue here: these tracks are too short. With few being much more than two and a half minutes, they feel cut off. Just as you feel something growing it gets stopped in its tracks and it's really disappointing that this is the case. This is most hard hitting on 'Derezzed'. If this track had looped on itself a few more times and been longer than 1:44 could possible have been the best thing Daft Punk had ever put to record, but sadly not. Unfortunately, however good this end product is, you can't help feeling that this could have been so much more. I could have been a defining moment in electro music.
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In it's opening the album is hugely orchestral, yet extremely minimalist. You'll probably struggle to even recognise that Daft Punk were responsible for this music until you start to move deeper into the album. There is a light dabbling of synth early on but nothing like you would be hoping for. 'Recognizer' is the first big track, with its bellowing bass blows, it's sounds being very reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's work on the 'Inception' soundtrack. Still no Daft Punk. 
