The soundtrack top the latest Coen brothers' movie gets five stars

CARTER BURWELL

Burn After Reading

Lakeshore

Since their first collaboration almost 25 years ago on Blood Simple, composer Carter Burwell has scored all of the films by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, creating music that is as unique and memorable as the films themselves: Miller's Crossing, Fargo, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men.

For the Coens' new nihilistic spy comedy (see review, this week's Ticket), Burwell has written a score that is surprisingly serious and straight-faced, combining simple melodies and dynamic polyrhythms with pulsing strings, elegiac piano, brooding winds and menacing percussion (recalling his superb score for Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2).

At once dark and lyrical, Burn After Readingis Burwell at his best.

www.lakeshore-records.com

JOCELYN CLARKE

Download Tracks: Night Running, The Struggle for Ebullience