Daniel Lopatin: Uncut Gems OST | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- You may not recognise the name Daniel Lopatin, but you might be familiar with his alter-ego: Oneohtrix Point Never. As Oneohtrix, he’s delivered a series of cutting edge solo albums, worked with a wide array of other artists and helmed film scores. Now, he’s returned under his own name to score the upcoming A24 arthouse thriller Uncut Gems.

It’s his second original soundtrack for an A24 / Safdie Brothers film after 2017’s Good Time, and like that film, Lopatin delivers a tense, synth heavy score. Having not yet been released at the time of review, I can’t comment on how well the score pairs with Uncut Gems, but based on the score, as well as his work for the fantastic film and score Good Time, I have high expectations. It’s clear from the eight minute opener The Ballad of Howie Bling alone, that Lopatin is going to be delivering a neon drenched, retro-aesthetic, ambient piece.

The Ballad of Howie Bling mixes the haunting, arcade style samples that you’d expect to hear in the score to the television show Mr Robot, but with a much brighter method. There’s chopped up vocal samples of chanting in the mix that almost act as an antithesis of Lopatin’s production on tracks by ANOHNI and FKA twigs. It’s not long until the dazzling synths take a darker turn.

Followed features the first vocal samples from the film, presumably soundtracking an illicit dealing by Adam Sandler’s Howie Bling. School Play is the most tense track in the first half of the score, a slow burn with ominous waves of synth that slowly fade in and out, creeping around the listener. Here, Lopatin gets experimental as he incorporates elements of drone music to tighten his sonic grip. I can only imagine that School Play will score an incredibly tense scene. The track ends with another sample from the film: Howie screaming for help.

This experimentation across the score helps to keep each track refreshing. While Lopatin sets musical rules for himself with the ‘80’s, synth heavy score, he finds interesting ways to break up its rhythm. Back to Roslyn alludes to a sleazy scene, with grimey saxophone blending into the ambience; Windows puts together post-industrial samples with a reggae inspired beat and Buzz Me In is structured around a haunting, minimalistic, striking clock.

The end result of Lopatin’s experimental ambient score is a tense nail-biting listen. While some might feel that it leans too heavily on the same atmospheric milestones as Good Time, I disagree. The samples and experimentations that bring together the Uncut Gems soundtrack gives it a unique quality that stands independant to the similar, yet tonally different Good Time score. One that -after listening- I’d suggest even stands alone to the film Uncut Gems.

- Sean Tayler.