Mike Patton: Music From The Film and Inspired By The Book The Solitude Of Prime Numbers

Since Fantomas’ 2001 album The Director’s Cut, which consisted entirely of soundtrack covers, Mike Patton has shown an increasing affection for movie music. In 2008 and ’09, he scored A Perfect Place and Crank: High Voltage, and on last year’s Mondo Cane, he reworked the theme from Mario Bava’s 1968 film Danger Diabolik. Now he’s released The Solitude Of Prime Numbers, an album “inspired” by Paolo Giordano’s eccentric novel and the 2010 film, which Patton also scored. Giordano’s story follows the parallel lives of two loners trapped in social isolation, deftly captured by Patton through desolate, minimalist ambiance of tracks like “Radius Of Convergence,” and more expansive symphonic pieces like “Isolated Primes.” Unfortunately, the latter is markedly less compelling, particularly on “Separatrix,” which sounds like a typical slasher-flick mood-setter. For the most part, however, Patton peppers his soundscapes with a variety of emotions, using a limited palette of instrumentation to diverse effect; across the record, quirky keyboards and droning synths interplay with delicate piano noodling and stirringly, eerie strings. Even for those not familiar with the book or the film, The Solitude Of Numbers is another successful departure for Patton that stands on its own, away from the source material.