Released with a satisfying air of mystery surrounding it, Disclosure Day is Steven Spielberg’s latest science fiction adventure – how exactly should the public find out that we may not be alone? Remarkably, well into his tenth decade, one of the director’s longest-standing collaborators, the great John Williams, was on hand once again to provide the film with a substantial score.
Because little was known about the film ahead of its release due to its clever marketing campaign, we didn’t really know what to expect of Williams’s music – having seemingly been in relatively poor physical health in recent years (he is 94!) but recording a significant amount of music over an extended period for this film, there was much excitement from the legendary composer’s many fans (including me) about this one.
Of course, it’s important to try not to get too enthusiastic and praise the thing just because it is genuinely extraordinary that a man of such a great age could possibly still have the wherewithal to work on such a high-profile studio blockbuster. Ignoring that for a minute – if you didn’t know it was the product of a 94-year-old, would it still seem good?
Well, a few bars into the opening cue “Listen” (in fact all the track titles on the official listing are stylised with lower-case characters at the start and with an ellipsis at the end, but I won’t be doing that here) any fears can be allayed. (In fact those opening bars rather strikingly resemble those of The Rite of Spring.) With its elegiac melody and string arrangement, the composer presents a vintage John Williams theme – sheer class seeps from its every pore. It reminds me a little of his music for Oliver Stone, particularly Born on the Fourth of July, and I find it to be remarkably moving.
It’s actually one of the pieces heard over the end credits (and not within the film at all) and if truth be told the rest of the album can’t quite match that level (had it done then this would be a bona fide masterpiece) but there is an elegance throughout – no less, of course, than you would expect – and plenty here to love and admire as the hour-long work flows.
“Flows” is a deliberate choice of word – there is a constant sense of fluidity in the music, little eddies seeming to swirl around – perhaps not at the breakneck speed they would have done in decades gone by, but they’re there. From the delicate harp textures (no Hollywood composer has provided so many graceful moments for that instrument since Bernard Herrmann) and the airy, balletic winds to the beautiful piano and the trademark strings and horns, there is much to explore and unpack.
The score is by no means without its darker moments – the suspense of “Dive”, one of a few tracks accentuated with electronics (Williams reportedly receiving assistance in that department from the sprightly Randy Kerber, a youthful 67), is remarkably effective and shot through with a dramatic vigour demonstrating the composer’s instincts are as sharp as ever. There is action, too – very much in keeping with the composer’s latter-day style, albeit don’t expect an “Anderton’s Great Escape” or anything like that, but there is an energy in particular to “Chase” (with a familiar ominous motif heard a few times) that is impressive; later “KCXE” features some especially satisfying theatrics and “Caught” is a little Star Wars sequel trilogy-like.
Other highlights include the dazzling “Believe”, led by a gentle piano with echoes of some of the more reflectively beautiful moments of the earlier Spielberg/Williams score AI; and ethereal vocals, first heard as a distant choir in the shimmering “In Vivo” before a brief solo from vocalist Holly Sedillos which builds so organically that despite its brevity it leaves quite the impression. Sedillos returns later in the score as the theme gets a slightly more extended performance in the final cue “Reprise” – there’s something about the style that reminds me a little of “Cinque’s Theme” from Amistad. “Empathy” is a great cue, starting with another delectable piano melody before the strings take over – the style is similar to “Listen”, but the thematic material is not reprised. Indeed, the theme that actually most prominently runs through the score is neither of those (and not quite as striking as either).
John Williams is literally a composer from another age – I am 48 years old and Williams wrote his most famous film score in the year I was born, and he had already been working on films for more than 20 years before that – it’s not just the way he believes music should be applied to film, but also the way he believes music should be written. There is a level of literacy on display throughout Disclosure Day that is so far beyond what we usually hear in modern film music it is really quite startling.
Comments from those who saw early screenings of the film which suggested the score had echoes of Close Encounters and ET were very ill-advised because they risked creating a level of expectation that could never be matched – and frankly this score is absolutely nothing like them. Spielberg actually put it very well when he described the score as following the film rather than leading it, and the album should be approached with that in mind. However, Williams still manages to bring a sense of showmanship even when following rather than leading and it is simply remarkable that we get to hear not just a new film score from him in 2026, but one as substantial and impressive as Disclosure Day and with a standout track as glorious as “Listen”. We are blessed to have it.
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