I suppose it is not innovative in subject matter or feeling, but that could be attributed to the film and not the minds or musical ingenuity of the makers themselves. It sacrifices the catchy pop beats of Daft Punk’s usual style for, at times, sombre, triumphant and dark layering that undoubtedly captures the moment and feeling of the intended scene. Given this, the score is nothing like Daft Punk’s commercial releases, until the Tron Legacy (End Titles) track that is. Amongst the excitement of cult lovers for this long awaited film, is the additional glee that the soundtrack, or rather the score, has been entirely composed by the electronic duo Daft Punk.Īdmittedly daunted by the thought of only a two person operation performing the entire score, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter recruited an 85-piece orchestra to help accomplish and expand not only the track listing but the presence of sound. Without a doubt, it's a game-changer for Daft Punk.The sequel to the 1982 film Tron, the aptly titled Tron: Legacy, is set to be released mid December with both Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their former roles of Kevin Flynn and Alan Bradley, respectively. These tracks come as welcome relief from the tension Daft Punk ratchets up on almost every other piece, particularly "Rectifier" and "C.L.U." Encompassing the past, present, and future of sci-fi scores, Tron: Legacy feels like it grew and mutated from its origins the same way the film's world did. It's not until the score's second half that the duo's more typical sound emerges on "Derezzed"'s filter-disco and on "End of the Line," where witty 8-bit sounds evoke '80s video games. However, for most of Tron: Legacy, they're concerned with pushing boundaries. Daft Punk get in a few clever nods to Wendy Carlos' Tron score, from "The Grid"'s blobby analog synth tones to "Adagio for Tron"'s mournful sense of lost wonder.
Elsewhere, "Recognizer"'s pulsing horns and synths and "The Son of Flynn"'s arpeggios and strings are so tightly knit that they finish each others' phrases. "The Game Has Changed" may be the most dramatic example: It starts with a wistful wisp of melody that sounds like a ghost in the machine, then swells of strings and brass and buzzsaw electronics submerge but never quite overtake it. Working with the London Orchestra, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo fuse electronic and orchestral motifs seamlessly and strikingly. Tron: Legacy's legitimacy as a score may surprise listeners unaware of Bangalter's fine work on 2003's Irreversible while that score actually hews closer to Daft Punk's sound, it showed his potential for crafting music beyond the duo's usual scope. However, Tron: Legacy takes a much darker, more serious approach than the original film and Daft Punk follows suit, delivering soaring and ominous pieces that sound more like modern classical music than any laser tag-meets-roller disco fantasies fans may have had. When it was announced that the duo would score the sequel to one of sci-fi's most visionary movies, it seemed like the perfect fit: Their sleek, neon-tipped, playful aesthetic springs from their love of late-'70s and early-'80s pop culture artifacts like Tron.
"The Game Has Changed" is the name of one of the tracks on Daft Punk's score to Tron: Legacy, and it also fits Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo's music for the film.