Various Artists

(500) Days Of Summer: Music From the Motion Picture (Sire)

By Christine Werthman
Published: July 24th, 2009 | 7:00am

It is to be expected that the soundtrack to a movie featuring indie darlings Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel would feature equally darling indie musicians. This does happen on the (500) Days Of Summer soundtrack, but thankfully, this album is not out to prove its knowledge of underground indie bands. Instead, it gives comforting, sensitive pieces — most of which you have probably already heard, but have not yet put on your own mix CD.

A narrator introduces Tom Hanson and Summer Finn (the movie’s protagonists) in the album’s opening track, and Regina Spektor’s “Us,” from 2004’s Soviet Kitsch (Sire Records), flies in next with rapid piano work, filled with optimistic melody and supported by bright strings. The Smiths follow, and as they play a role in the movie’s plot, they show up twice on the soundtrack. Here the album falls victim to amateur mix CD making, with the band’s two tracks “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” appearing too close together on a 16-track album. The fun ode to parental disappointments, “Bad Kids,” from Black Lips separates those contributions, and Doves offer up 2002’s “There Goes the Fear.”

The album tracklist operates smoothly except for one hiccup, with Hall & Oates popping in on “You Make My Dreams.” The loveably cornball ‘80s song harkens back to a montage used in The Wedding Singer and pulls you out of the album’s charm. But the soundtrack rights itself with the remaining lineup of indie rock with the Temper Trap, Wolfmother, and Mumm-Ra, and singer-songwriters in the form of Carla Bruni, Feist, Simon & Garfunkel, and more Spektor.

The album’s final efforts leave listeners with Meaghan Smith’s gentle interpretation of “Here Comes Your Man” by the Pixies and a She & Him cover of “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.” Though the song did indeed appear earlier on the album, it takes a different form in Deschanel’s voice, coupled with M. Ward’s subtle alt-country guitar. This sendoff leaves you with that warm-and-fuzzy feeling that comes with having listened to a record with heartfelt, mix-tape vibes.

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