Peter Broderick

It seems almost ho-hum to comment on the efficacy of Peter Broderick's soundtrack work. His newest offering is for a documentary delving into a 30-year-old case of five unsolved murders in an Idaho river valley. With a mix of nostalgic sepia and creeping dread played out primarily on piano, guitar and strings, Broderick's score moves from a patient aerial overview down into a messier ground level perspective. Some tracks blend the two, like "Some Fishermen on the Snake River," pitting sun glints of piano and guitar against ominous, rowing violins, all of which disappear into a breath-holding near-silence at the moment of discovery. His use of nearly subliminal and tonally jarring counterpoints, sometimes a competing theme or non-musical noise, give later tracks a feel of decay amidst idyllic landscapes. Closer "Old Time," sung in duet with Arone Dyer, hits with a little too much narrative pressure, but it can be forgiven considering the flawlessness of the rest.