Norwegian Wood (Original Soundtrack)

Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood first stepped into soundtrack composing for the British documentary Bodysong back in 2003, and turned in an award-winning piece of work for 2007’s There Will Be Blood. (It was only due to a technicality that the score was not nominated for an Oscar.) Greenwood clearly has the vision and an ear suited to the world of cinema, and in the lush, emotive soundtrack for Norwegian Wood — a film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel of love and death — Greenwood turns away from the intense dissonance and turmoil that was the heart of There Will Be Blood to a more somber, introspective milieu. Executing Greenwood’s score is the Emperor String Quartet, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and — perhaps fulfilling a longstanding desire to work with a much-admired band — Greenwood neatly works in three exquisite original tracks from Krautrock trailblazers Can. As an innovative multi-instrumentalist himself, Greenwood is accustomed to artistic risk-taking, and that mindset pays off handsomely on Norwegian Wood.