This western by the Coen brothers is built around six independent stories, though the composer Carter Burwell clearly wasn’t too concerned with finding a unified sound to bind them all together. Instead, he searches to give each of these "short stories" their own identity. Some of the stories are very musically economical (as is the case with ‘The Mortal Remains’ section, which features a lot of dialogue), while other sections have required more work from Burwell, such as those featuring solitary characters or the large open spaces of the Wild West. The wonderful tale All Gold Canyon tells the story of a gold digger (played by Tom Waits) who thinks he’s found a gold vein in a green valley. Like the deer and the butterflies, music seems to be one of the protagonists of this idyllic landscape – almost like an “invisible best friend” to this endearing old man (Goodbye Canyon). Burwell's harp, woodwind and half-soft half-ironic strings accompany Tom Waits gently until the unexpected ending.
The opening story (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) is also important from a musical point of view since Buster Scruggs is a kind of farcical cowboy who spends his time singing on his horse (Cool Water, When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings). The film plays with all the clichés of western films, so Carter Burwell also uses many typical timbres of the genre which he integrates into his personal universe: the tack piano (Randall Collins), the tired guitar (Near Algodones), and naturally the lyrical passages of the symphony orchestra (Hello Mr. Pocket, The Oregon Trail, The Gal Who Got Rattled). For the end credits, Burwell wrote a series of themes inspired by American folk, starting with a beautiful waltz for trumpet and strings (The End Of Buster Scruggs). It should be noted that this is the 18th collaboration between the composer and the Coen brothers, it follows notable works such as Barton Fink, Fargo and A Serious Man. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz