• Composed by Thomas Newman
• WaterTower / 55m

Starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as detectives who suspect Jared Leto is behind a series of murders in LA in the 1990s, The Little Things is directed by John Lee Hancock and released to little positive reception early in 2021. The film marks the third collaboration between the director and the great composer Thomas Newman – their previous one, The Highwaymen, was a score I listened to many times but didn’t write about because frankly I couldn’t think of much to say. Well, in musical terms The Little Things makes it sound like Angels in America or something by comparison – this may be the dullest music Newman has ever written. He’s always loved doing ambient, textural material and while there are some more “conventional” scores for thrillers in his back catalogue, he does look for opportunities to write this kind of noirish atmosphere when he can. I’m just not sure he’s ever quite done it to this extent before.