Adam Young: "The Spirit of St. Louis"

Perhaps no other entry in Adam Young's soundtrack series contains as many satisfying grooves as The Spirit of St. Louis. Even from the downbeat of the first track, you know you're in for a ride.

Shifting from the orchestra-driven RMS Titanic, and guitar-driven Apollo 11, Young chooses to address the first solo transatlantic flight with heavy, driving rhythms in percussion and strings, paired with a lighter side of ambient textures and piano. Curiously, no thematic material is prominent, although much of the album retains the dorian flavour established in the second track, "Nova Scotia." Again, the strength of the album is in the variety of emotional characters that Young is able to conjure up. In The Spirit of St. Louis, you get the thrill and anticipation of takeoff and landing, the wonder and warmth of ocean vistas, mixed with a mild sense of trial. The kicker though, is that these emotional characters are not as well balanced as they were in the previous two albums. One would expect the trials and turbulence to be a little more severe in Lindbergh's flight; after all, he was piloting a machine that could very well have become his coffin. Of the three tracks which point to elements of struggle (6, 7, and 8), each is quite mild, with only "Fighting To Stay Awake" proving truly satisfying. A topic as treacherous as "Ice On Wings" seems to suggest a greater license for panic and fear than Young opted to take. These 'lows' are not quite low enough. The emotional highs, on the other hand, are well received. "Over Water" hits its mark and is a personal favourite, with Young painting a dreamy ocean vista with sweeping strings and noodling electric guitar.

As with all of Young's scores, The Spirit of St. Louis is well mixed and executed on a technical level. Coming on the heels of the enormously successful RMS Titanic, The Spirit of St. Louis falls a bit short in its breadth of emotional character, and even then in the balance of these characters. However, you will still have not a few enormously satisfying grooves to enjoy along the way.