Enis Rotthoff – Love Sarah (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Normally, I don’t do reviews of full albums. But when I was offered three tracks out of this soundtrack, I felt it would be disconnected from the whole (motion) picture if I just wrote about single tracks of the complete album. So, here we go – the blog’s first album review.

I guess I should say that I haven’t seen the film yet, so it’s pretty exciting to have the music have an effect on my brain without being able to instantly attach the sound to pictures. The whole soundtrack has a strong playful energetic base. In most of the single tracks you’ll find this lightweight yet distinct core vibe which is building a warm atmosphere which overall brings a huge amount of positive feel along. In ‘Meet Sarah’ and ‘Opening the Bakery’, I found a calm yet adventurous feel present, as if you just found something you weren’t even looking for. In a way, this sound builds a scenario of new chapters in life for me.

‘Lucky Me’, ‘Earrings’ and ‘The First Day’ fill the room with more emotion, bringing out the more serious side of things while giving the music enough room to breathe. Once again, nothing is rushed, the conceptual build is done carefully yet distinct enough to never lose its aim. ‘A Home Away From Home’ brings the exciting energetic side out again. There’s a perfect balance held with the exciting jumpy base theme, and what I’d like to call ’emotional withdrawal’. There’s this feeling of new chances present, unknown terrotories, and new chapters in the book of life that are opened.

‘For the Love of You’ presents vocals and, for some reason, feels a bit like a ‘foreign object’ for me personally. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great love song, but for some reason for me it feels like the album takes the wrong turn down that awesome exciting lightweight and adventurous road. But this turn is very common in soundtracks, and maybe this even was intended within the story of the movie. The tense moments of ‘The Final Dance’ or ‘Running a Feature’ make up for this (let’s call it) soft glitch, there’s a dense energy present in the tunes that’s put out without the need of rhytmic or percussive elements, yet it feels paced and more driven. Imagining the film, this might indicate we’re getting close to important turns of the story here. This density is continued in ‘The Magic of Baking’ or ‘Reflection’ that have a bit of an (in lack of better words) ‘explorer element’ to find in it. Unknown territory, but with a more energetic and more driven approach.

‘Winning Over Grandmother’ or ‘The World Has Come To Us’ feel relaxed and saturated with positivity. The calm and relaxed melodies indicate the tension to be released, while the playful atmosphere feels bright and fun to exist in.

Sorry, that was quite of a long read. But this outstanding work cannot be talked through in two sentences. Overall, this album has a great emotional base theme which Rotthoff managed to give the whole palette of emotion and energy. The whole album uses an unbelievable amount of stylistic and emotional nuances which takes the listener on a journey through a whole cosmos to exist in. Don’t take my word for it. Sit back. Relax. Put on those closed headphones and allow the album to take you to another place and another time. You’ll be rewarded with an outstanding experience. Trust me.

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