Max Payne Soundtrack CD

La-La Land Records To Release Soundtrack For Adaptation of Rockstar Games’ Antihero

The soundtrack for Max Payne was released by La-La Land Records via their website from www.lalalandrecords.com on October 21, 2008 and in stores on November 18th. The album contains original music composed by Marco Beltrami (3:10 to Yuma, Scream) and Buck Sanders (The Hurt Locker, Mindgame). The film is based on the Rockstar Games’ legendary, hard-hitting interactive video game.

Max Payne tells the story of a maverick cop determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As they mystery deepens, Max (Mark Wahlberg), is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal. The film is directed by John Moore and also stars Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Donal Logue, Chris O’Donnell, and Mila Kunis as Mona Sax.

“The music for Max Payne had on objective: to intrigue,” described Director John Moore. “Beltrami and Sanders wonderfully dark-woven score does just that, it pulls the viewer ever closer to the grisly, macabre dénouement.”

To do so the composers Beltrami and Sanders took an innovative approach. They describe, “The film opens with Max drowning underwater, floating serenely and waiting to embrace death. It’s a beautiful but disturbing image. Time to detune the piano!”

The duo would detune the piano 5 times until they got the sound just right. “It transformed the piano’s upper registers into a glassy, chime-like instrument and the low end became an unpitchable rumbling.”

Marco Beltrami is known for his unconventional approach to film scoring. In his approach to scoring Scream, Beltrami threw away conventional horror music clichés. Instead, he likened the film to a western and calling upon the influences of his idol Ennio Morricone, he went on to write one of the most unexpected and imaginative scores in recent memory.

After studying at Brown University and the Yale School of Music, composer Marco Beltrami continued his training in Italy under the Italian master Luigi Nono. He then relocated to Los Angeles to undertake a fellowship with Academy Award® winning composer Jerry Goldsmith. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Beltrami was hired to score Scream, the Wes Craven film that would become a successful trilogy. Following Scream, Beltrami went on to write his critically acclaimed score for Mimic. His recent compositions include Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, Hellboy, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and 3:10 To Yuma, for which he earned an Academy Award® nomination.

Buck Sanders has been Marco Beltrami’s assistant in 1997. He has worked with Beltrami programming synthesizers and providing additional cues for his scores for the past ten years. He has composed scores for the film documentary CamGirls, the 2005 film Mindgame and the 2008 film The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

Check out the Max Payne Soundtrack on MySpace for more info and to give a listen.

Song List

1. Max Attacks
2. Investigation
3. Payneful Piano
4. Colvin Quivers
5. Dethlab
6. Storming The Office
7. No Respects For You
8. Lupino Spreads His Wings
9. Max Returns Home
10. Factoring Max
11. Window Payne
12. Dark Heaven
13. Vote for Dennis
14. BB's Maxim
15. Max Marches On
16. Heaven To The Max
17. Topless Fanfare