The original score of Gravity, Alfonso Cuáron’s 2013 sci-fi space thriller, was a thrillingly stripped down, futuristic accompaniment which grounded and matched the film’s entrancing tempo. Written by British composer Steven Price, it was an attempt to challenge traditional Hollywood scores by stressing atmosphere over sweeping and catchy melodies. Overall, it succeeded in the same way that a film like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey did in synthesizing visuals and sound.

With a scoreless version available on the Blu-Ray release of the dvd, and absolutely no threat of the possibility of Hans Zimmer re-writing the score, Cuáron’s acclaimed (and overrated) film was a suitable choice for Rescore’s four piece band. The band compromises of drummer Scott Silberberg, guitarist and bassist Pat Sandquist, guitarist Miles Knight, and key-board player/sound producer Charles Field—who transformed the film’s original futuristic score into a more humane, post-rock jam.

Like Price’s score, the attention to detail was extraordinary. The first shot of the film—a thirteen minute, one-take gliding camera which floats and challenges the viewer’s frame of vision—was matched perfectly by Miles’ tranquil, spacey guitar strums. A thumping bass kick foreshadowed the danger to come, and as Clooney and Bullock become untethered by a launching debris storm, the score corresponded fittingly through hectic guitar riffs and pulsating cymbals. The percussive work by Silberberg certainly deserves a mention, as its driving snares and cymbals kept the audience on edge. The strongest moments of the performance came from the band’s ability to match cinematographer Emannuel Lubezki’s visual cues. Cuáron’s film plays on the tension between stillness and movement—silence and noise—and the band captured this interplay very well.

The score not only matched moments of tension. My favorite bits, I think, were actually the moments of the film that were marked by their silence. Field’s synthesizer matched these sequences in the film well, as richly melodic synth lines played on top of the film’s more tragic moments; like when Bullock floats lonely in space after she decides to let Clooney go during the middle of the film. Pedals were used effectively by both guitarists to enunciate the overcoming loneliness of space, with guitar strums and bass lines lushly emanating from the room’s full-bodied Beringer sound system.

Much of the score sounded a ton like something from the Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Like their music, the score reached its climax in the final sequence with an incredible build in dynamic, as Bullock lands on earth. The music may have obscured a lot of the dialogue in the film, and the projection of the film may have been too small, but with such an attention to detail on the behalf of four great musicians, Rescore has once again proven its worth to the On the Rocks Festival.

Words: Andres Zambrano-Bravo