Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead

Album Review

Sean Lennon's original score for the low-budget vampire film Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead - released as a soundtrack prior to the movie's full-fledged release, perhaps as a way to garner attention for the film - allows Lennon to indulge in some '60s fetishes from Ennio Morricone to Brian Wilson. It's the kind of lushly dramatic, red velvet music that plays both straight and ironic; Lennon's tongue may be planted in his cheek on occasion, but he still loves the theatricality of the enterprise, whether it's the music box tinkling of "Elsinore Revisited" or the dreamy tremolo of "Bobby's Bedroom." Lennon is adept at creating a mood and sustaining it - especially impressive because this was created almost entirely through a MIDI set up - and that makes this good mood music on its own terms, whether it works with the film or not.