Perhaps most associated with a career-long partnership with the Coen Brothers that began with his and their first film, Blood Simple (1984), Carter Burwell had over two productive decades of film scoring under his belt before teaming up with director Martin McDonagh for 2008's In Bruges. They worked together again on McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths, and their third straight collaboration, 2017's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, led to Academy Award nominations for both. Burwell's often playfully dramatic approach -- particularly evident in films like the Coens' everyman comedy-dramas ? would seem an effective one for Three Billboards, with its small-town setting and cast of persevering anti-heroes. That said, the majority of the score consists of languid atmosphere led by delicate, single-note lines that the composer revisits as part of his thematic scheme. Burwell used a spaghetti western-inspired palette for the film, one that features instruments like acoustic guitar, piano, handclaps, and gong in addition less prominent woodwinds and strings. Tracks like "Mildred Goes to War," "I've Been Arrested," and "Billboards on Fire" have a riled-up marching quality replete with stomping and clapping. In contrast are "The Deer," "Slippers," and others that alternate slow, spare, minor-key melodies between piano, acoustic guitar, and/or clarinet. They're backed by hushed, sustained strings and woodwinds. The soundtrack also features songs by Townes Van Zandt, Monsters of Folk, Joan Baez, and the Four Tops, with Amy Annelle reprising Van Zandt's "Buckskin Stallion Blues" to close the film. It's not one of Burwell's more ambitious scores, but it's one of his most organic ? in terms of sound, but even more so in its symbiosis with the film. ~ Marcy Donelson

Rovi