Sometimes a soundtrack, though old, is so good, you cannot help but go back to it again and again. Directed by Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs the World is a 2010 American comedy film based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Though the film didn’t really fare well at the box office, the soundtrack of the movie left a lasting impression on music critics and fans alike.

The 19 or 22 (deluxe version) songs in the album capture the fervent spirit of the original Scott Pilgrim comics with a youthful readiness. The album opener, We Are Sex Bob-Omb, is a frantic, fuzz-laden jam between co-actors Michael Cera, Alison Pill, Mark Webber as well as Beck. The famous singer songwriter, Beck, penned quite a few songs for the film’s soundtrack. The next song in the album is Scott Pilgrim by Canadian band, Plumtree. This is the same song that inspired O’Malley to pen the graphic novel series. Instantly infectious, the oft-repeated “I’ve liked you for a thousand years” is simple, to the point as far as the film is concerned and memorable.

Next track is the extremely trippy, psychedelic melody, I Heard Ramona Sing, written and performed by The Pixies singer and frontman, Black Francis. The wailing sound of the opening electric guitar riff shall definitely get stuck in your head for days to come. As you make your way through the song, you realise it ventures into the sentimental territory with words like “There are moments in the night/It was all right/There are moments in the night/I heard ramona sing”. And speaking of sentimental, this OST doesn’t leave any stones unturned, especially when it comes to song like American alternative country band, Beachwood Sparks’ By Your Side. Oozing with melancholy, and yet, a feeling of redemption, the song is a plethora of clean, jangling guitars.

Black Lips’ O Katrina! is a fun early punk rock-era song with a melody that you can imagine dancing to in a club. The soundtrack also has a few tricks up its sleeve in the humour department, and the next song proves that. A mere two-word long I’m So Sad, So Very, Very Sad is sung by Crash & the Boys, a band that features in the comic book and the movie. This track, as well the slightly longer next one — We Hate You Please Die, are both written and performed by members of Broken Social Scene, a Canadian indie rock band.

The next track, Garbage Truck, is another laidback song, laden with oodles of fuzz brought forth in copious amounts by Beck — the singer, and songwriter for the track. The next song, Teenage Dream, takes you down nostalgia street with its melancholic words sung with much feeling by Marc Bolan, lead singer of the now defunct British rock band, T Rex. The next track, Sleazy Bed Track, was loved by all and introduced a whole legion of indie music fans to the English indie rock band, The Bluetones. Afterwards, the frantic pace of Blood Red Shoes’ It’s Getting Boring by the Sea is carried on by Canadian indie rock band Metric’s Black Sheep. We enter fuzz territory once again with Beck’s Threshold and finally Summertime before the album concludes with an 8-bit version of Threshold.

aazaranis@mydigitalfc.com