Cliff Martinez OST Solaris Picture Disc Edition

Steven Soderbergh’s take on Stanislaw Lem’s influential sci-fi tome Solaris was incredibly polarizing at the time. Some didn’t want to see it simply because it starred heart-throb George Clooney in what is essentially a mostly solo role, some didn’t appreciate it in light of legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s overtly spiritual take on the same book. Soderbergh says of Martinez's pivotal role and his score, "I relied on it not only to unify the film emotionally, but to import actual narra-tive information." Martinez himself describes it as "one of the few soundtracks of mine that I can still stand to listen to.

I also think it was a score that made the greatest contribution to the film for which it was written." Described by BBC Music as "A brooding slow, meditative work" and a musical journey that "leaves the listener floating free" by Soundtrack.net, "Solaris' is an evocative and highly seductive score that still fully resonates with the listener more than a decade after it was first released.

Those that did manage to take it in would have noticed on thing in particular though – composer Cliff Martinez‘s haunting and deeply influential soundtrack. Percussive, but anchored with a slow, deeply affecting synthesized bass line throughout, the soundtrack served as a nudge in the right direction for drone-lovers and ambient types, and still sounds fresh even now. It’s hardly surprising then that Portishead’s Geoff Barrow has had the good sense to make sure it finally gets pressed to wax through his Invada imprint.