Juno Soundtrack

January 22, 2008

I saw Juno a couple weeks ago and I thought it was brilliant. It did have some flaws, some of the cast was a bit underused (cough, Michael Cera) and they could have given Rainn Wilson more than three lines, but as far as cute, quirky indie films go, this is up there with Little Miss Sunshine and Garden State. One thing consistent with all these films is superb soundtracks, and this one might be the best of the bunch. While Garden State featured The Shins and Little Miss Sunshine featured Devotchka, this one features the work of Kimya Dawson, both solo and with The Moldy Peaches. I was only slightly familiar with Dawson’s music going into the movie and I must say that her music added a lot to the film and I was extremely excited when the Juno Soundtrack arrived at my door stop so I could listen further.

This soundtrack flows beautifully and has a fantastic mix of indie folk and classic rock tunes. I was happy to hear lesser-known gems from Velvet Underground, Buddy Holly, and The Kinks make an appearance on this album while the Bowie-penned “All The Young Dudes” and Sonic Youth’s spacey, ironic take on “Superstar” bring some sense of familiarity to the table. There’s also beautiful Cat Power song on the album, “Sea of Love”, and two of my favorite Belle & Sebastian songs (I admittedly was singing along to “Piazza, New York Catcher” in the theatre). As for Kimya Dawson’s multiple contributions the standouts are “Tire Swing” and the film-closer “Anyone Else But You”. There’s a wide-eyed optimism and very sweet quality to Dawson’s songs and they make for fun sing-a-longs. The Juno Soundtrack isn’t just thrown together songs from the movie, it’s an album you’ll want to listen to from start to finish. If you enjoyed the film or just love folk songs in general, I strongly recommend picking it up.

MP3 Kimya Dawson – Tire Swing
MP3 Belle & Sebastian – Piazza, New York Catcher

Watch Juno Trailer

Posted by Taylor in Album Review, Film