5/5 A Completely Original and Captivating Work of Musical Art
  by Phoenix Child (USA)
Those who've read my prior reviews on this subject know that I despised the "Twilight" movie with a fiery passion, but was a fan of the soundtrack. Now that they've changed directors as well as composers for "New Moon," I checked the "New Moon" soundtrack album out with some degree of eagerness. I bought it the day it came out...and I was utterly blown away.

There is not one single dislikeable song on this entire album. "New Moon" is a completely new and original work of music; you cannot find the songs on this compilation anywhere else, with each song completely original and written specifically for the movie soundtrack. The artists range from the well-known to the obscure, from the folk-rock to the alternative, and the impressive range and skill of each musician is apparent from the get-go.

The album kicks into a broodingly moody gear with Death Cab for Cutie's amazingly emotive "Meet Me on the Equinox," which bleeds into the slightly punky punch of "Friends" by Band of Skulls. Thom Yorke, the lead singer of alternative rock legends Radiohead, contributes his own dark electronic track "Hearing Damage," to be followed by the soft and introspective strains of "Possibility" by Lykke Li.

The Killers of indie-rock fame contribute the original "A White Demon Love Song," which perfectly captures the complicated relationships between Bella, Edward and Jacob throughout the story of "New Moon." Anya Marina belts out the lovely ballad "Satellite Heart," which is followed by a slinky new remix of Muse's new single "I Belong to You." Bon Iver and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club each come in with their own folk/aternative rock songs ("Roslyn" and "Done All Wrong", respectively), each track unique and lively in their own way -- indeed, the "New Moon" soundtrack could easily have fallen into the simple category of 'teen angst music' but the overall quality of the songs and the mixing are enough to completely sidestep that bullet.

Hurricane Bells lively rock anthem "Monsters" again ramps the album up from the slowness while still managing to capture the overall, ethereally brooding sense that holds this unique album together. Sea Wolf delivers a punchy folk tune in "The Violet Hour," which leads in to OK Go's new track "Shooting the Moon," a fun pop-infused folk/rock song that has a beat and a style all it's own. Grizzly Bear's darkly romantic "Slow Life" comes up next, and the final song for the album is "No Sound But the Wind" by indie/folk rock leaders the Editors, a lush and gorgeous piano ballad that carries us into the true star of this collection:

The final track on this compilation, however, is the true creme de la creme of this collection -- an original score work for the movie composed by the new French composer Alexandre Desplat. Titled simply "New Moon (The Meadow)," the complex piano melodies and heartrending orchestrations perfectly illustrate everything Desplat needed to accomplish, and this particular song outshines every other song on this album. (At this point, I'm almost more excited about the score album coming out than the movie itself!)

Bottom line -- whether or not the movie itself will improve on its predecessor is hard to gauge at this point, but this soundtrack is that rare kind of originality, that special kind of gem, that is hard to stumble upon this day, and yet this album managed to do it with grace. Introducing new acts, providing dazzling new material from old favorites, and mixing an album to keep it fresh while never losing the brooding cohesiveness of the project the mix is based upon is a difficult task, but "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" has more than stepped up to the challenge -- it hit a solid home run.

Five out of five stars.

4/5 Surprisingly Indie-riffic soundtrack
  by M. Morlok (Asheville, NC)
This soundtrack shocked the indie world. Who would have thought this teen pop culture phenomenon was going to have such a strong indie-centric soundtrack. It is a very downbeat soundtrack with moody songs from moody artists (that I personally love) for a moody movie. You can just feel the fear, impatience, longing, an inadequacy in most of the songs, which are primary emotions of adolescence and most vampire fiction.

Highlights for me were Thom Yorke's (Radiohead) song "Hearing Damage." Anytime I can hear new material from this guy I'm happy. It has a similar feel to his solo release, Eraser, which I thought was great. When I read about this soundtrack I was REALLY excited about hearing the Bon Iver & St. Vincent collaboration because I'm obsessed with St. Vincent's album Actor. It definitely sounds more like Bon Iver versus Clarke but her haunting voice adds a lot the song. I really like Grizzly Bear's "Slow Life. It has their normal haunting feel with unbelievable harmony.

Overall, this is a great soundtrack and since it's geared toward teens it's an awesome opportunity for them to hear from some of the best artists in music today. It does feel a bit like colliding of two worlds since indie fans typically don't like their bands to "go mainstream." However, I hope twilight fans grasp the uniqueness of so many great artists being on one soundtrack.


5/5 Great Soundtrack
  by Callie (Ohio, USA)
As a fan, I've been eagerly waiting for the soundtrack and finally got my copy today. I am very pleased with this CD. I was a big fan of the Twilight soundtrack, but I can honestly say that I love this as well (maybe more).

Compared to the Twilight soundtrack, this is much quieter. With Twilight, it was a bit harder in sound and more fast paced. It fit with the hectic situations of the first novel. This New Moon soundtrack feels more somber and truly embodies the emotions at the center of the story.

This is definitely a must-have for fans of the series, or just fans of good music. But be warned, if you're not into more indie music, chances are that you won't care for this CD. But the indie feel is another part of why I really like this. Plus, I now have quite a few new favorite bands that I wouldn't typically hear on the radio. My personal favorites would be "Meet Me On The Equinox" "Friends" "Satellite Heart" and "Shooting The Moon".

I highly recommend playing this in your car on your way to see the movie in November; it gets you in the mood for the adaptation. But it's also wonderful to listen to while reading the book. Honestly, it doesn't matter what song you land on while reading, because each one is made amazingly well for the subject matter.

Oh, and you definitely get your money's worth with this. There are 15 songs and they're all of decent length, so for the $9.99 that you can buy the CD for right now, it's a steal that's sure to please.

3/5 New Moon, new soundtrack
  by K.T. May (New York)
Right now, there are millions of people awaiting the new film in the Twilight series, "New Moon". To sate a small piece of that almost insatiable appetite, the second soundtrack in the series was released on October 16.

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" soundtrack features songs from a group of musicians who are just as eclecticly arranged as the soundtrack for the first movie in the series, in the sense that some lesser-known and even unknown names were chosen to hopefully piggyback on Twilight's success. Here, there are tracks ranging from Death Cab For Cutie, ("Meet Me on the Equinox") to the Killers, ("A White Demon Love Song"). These two tracks are the highlights of the album, although Death Cab seems a bit tamer here than usual.

Some notable tracks on this soundtrack include "Friends" by Band of Skulls, which has a deep, dark groovy guitar riff, "Slow Life" by Grizzly Bear which has a Bon Iver-esque sound, and "Roslyn" by Bon Iver himself, with St. Vincent.

"The Violet Hour" is a new track from the band Sea Wolf, (known by their single "You're a Wolf"). "Satellite Heart" by Anya Marina is reminiscent of Aimee Mann with her acoustic guitar and metaphorical lyrics. Muse has another track, this time with "I Belong to You [New Moon remix]". "Supermassive Black Hole" from the first soundtrack was much more impressive. This track is a bit more bland this time around.

Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame appears with "Hearing Damage" which, thankfully, retains much of the Radiohead signature sound and doesn't seem like a sell-out kind of a track. Surprisingly, OK Go appears here with a more mellow track from this usually upbeat band entitled "Shooting the Moon". Other tracks on this CD include Lykke Li's "Possibility", Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Done All Wrong", Hurricane Bells' "Monsters" and The Editors' "No Sound But the Wind". The album ends with the instrumental "New Moon [The Meadow]" from the score by Alexander Desplat.

All in all, this is a better collection of musicians than the first soundtrack in the sense that they do not have artists repeating here, like they did with Paramore having two tracks on the first album, but the sound itself is, at times, quite boring. There is a dark atmospheric theme presented throughout the listening experience, which is good in encapsulating how the overall mood of a vampire film should feel, however it seems more like a CD you'd put on to help you fall asleep. The choice of musicians at times makes you want to scratch your head, (OK Go). Some bands appear to have been chosen because their name would look appropriate with the subject matter, not because they make music appropriate to the genre, (The Killers, Sea Wolf).

It's not a bad CD but in comparison, the first soundtrack emerges stronger. This is surprising, since the first movie/soundtrack did so well financially that the powers that be must have had a bigger budget by now and could afford to be a bit more substantial.


3/5 Varied and lush, but a bit uneven
  by Erin B. (North Dakota)
It is truly nice to see indie artists get the spotlight on this album but it does feel like Alexandra Patsavas eschewed most mainstream artists simply because they were mainstream.

After hearing the teases on Amazon.uk I was expecting to love this soundtrack more than I did, but it does have some great tracks. Standouts include OK Go's trippy "Shooting the Moon", Anya Marina's quiet gem "Satellite Heart", Grizzly Bear's emotionally gut-wrenching "Slow Life" and the lush and ethereal Bon Iver & St. Vincent collab "Roslyn". I suspect I'll enjoy the soundtrack more once the movie comes out and it becomes more apparent where the songs fit into the storyline. I question the wisdom of putting the soundtrack out so far ahead of the movie but I realize that the appetite for "Twilight" is ravenous.

Overall, good but not great with four or five songs destined to be among my top played. 3 1/2 out of 5.