Album Review: Call Me By Your Name (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Magical and deliriously romantic, this album is quite a storyteller that delivers us the journey of Elio and Oliver. It is both a melancholy and grace, visual and audio abstractions, erotic and glorious romance. Based on its movie that was set in Northern Italy, the dreamy and warm tone of the summer tale are strongly connected to these 16 songs on the album. As the rich opening, John Adams with his “Hallelujah Junction – 1st movement” turns the opening credit of the movie with a calming and summery anthem, adding so much intensity on the Greek statues portraits as a welcoming part of the movie.
Such contemporary artistic compositions are brought here by Ryuichi Sakamoto in “M.A.Y. in the Backyard” and “Germination” which hold exquisite aspects of the soundtrack. The raw beauty, aesthetic, and beautifully heart-breaking emotions are also well captured in the soul-wrenching rhythmical masterpiece of “Une barque sur l’océan from Miroirs” by André Laplante.
The unspoken passions, literary metaphors, and secret gazes captivated between Elio and Oliver that often be found in this Guadagnino’s movie are stunningly presented by Sufjan Stevens in our two most favorite songs of the album: “Mystery of Love” and “Visions of Gideon”. “Mystery of Love” is filled by soft tunes and sweet repetition of “...blessed be the mystery of love”, a precious phase that floats down so beautifully, like the love story of Elio and Oliver: grew carefully with such deep emotions and surrounded by soothing, endearing atmosphere between the two lovebirds. Stevens has successfully given a splash of charm to his lyrics that describes their love journey all too well. Meanwhile, “Visions of Gideon” that plays in the film’s final scene, remarkably attracted audiences’ hearts with its painful and depressing lyrics: “I have loved you for the last time, is it a video?”. The agonizing piano harmony lets us wander into our own experiences of broken heart—a surreal, hazy experience of reminiscing our loved ones in a vivid memory, leaving a bitter aftertaste.
After all, “Call Me By Your Name (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” is the perfect seasoned mixture of love; filled by joy, misery, artistic, surreal, depression, beauty, and everything you could have asked for after watching this intimate and authentic movie.
