Ever since the talent behind the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s “Her” was first announced—Arcade Fire, Owen Pallett, and Karen O—an intense clamor and anticipation sprung up for the end result. And true to predictions it is great, a melancholic and warm supplement to the “Adaptation” director’s latest film. But even as a full stream of Arcade Fire’s score (and Karen O’s song) last week showed promise for a proper release soon, a new Q&A with Jonze paints a much more uncertain picture.
Among the filmmaking advice and background on “Her” in a recent Reddit IAmA with Jonze, a question was posed about the soundtrack and its future availability. Unfortunately Jonze responded with a bit of disappointment, saying: “I loved what Arcade Fire did. I’m not sure if there’s going to be a release of it though.” The aforementioned album stream was listed as a For Your Consideration promo for Oscar voters, so we wonder what the hold-up could be; are Arcade Fire and co. waiting to pull a larger release together with the many other tunes in the film? Or is it just caught up in some rights fiasco?
Regardless, the experience of working with Arcade Fire seems to have only made Jonze even more of a devotee. “[As] a fan… it was pretty special to be working with them in their studio in Montreal,” he writes in the Q&A. “The way they wrote the music was very communal, and we would all sit around and watch scenes and whoever had an idea would pick up an instrument and start playing it.”
Hopefully circumstances will allow their music to be shared in a full release soon, but in the meantime check out their work in “Her,” in theatres now.