Signs

1	Main Titles / Pete Anthony 1:45
2	First Crop Circles / Pete Anthony 3:15
3	Roof Intruder / Pete Anthony 2:19
4	Brazilian Video / Pete Anthony 1:56
5	In the Cornfield / Pete Anthony 5:42
6	Baby Monitor / Pete Anthony 1:09
7	Recruiting Office / Pete Anthony 2:11
8	Throwing a Stone / Pete Anthony 5:47
9	Boarding Up the House / Pete Anthony 3:00
10	Into the Basement / Pete Anthony 5:23
11	Asthma Attack / Pete Anthony 3:42
12	The Hand of Fate, Pt. 1 / Pete Anthony 5:32
13	The Hand of Fate, Pt. 2 / Pete Anthony 3:48

Barnes & Noble

Call it a fortuitous omen: Composer James Newton Howard and director M. Night Shyamalan, both multiple Oscar nominees, collaborated to spellbinding effect on The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and their latest team effort for the extraterrestrial thriller Signs is just as captivating. The film explores the mysterious appearance of crop circles -- a phenomenon that has mystified researchers for decades -- and their residual effects on farmer Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his family. Thus, Howard's Signs is a score of mounting tension, beginning with "Main Title," a quiet passage that suddenly erupts with a slash of violins, which continue to swirl beneath a storm cloud of brass. It's a heart-racing theme that segues into "First Crop Circles," which begins with a solitary piano set against a large orchestra, until oboes sound an ominous note. The sense of danger, mystery, and wonder is palpable, and it recurs later, in "Into the Basement," with a chorus of violins playing a meditative, deceptively tranquil melody. Harp, brass, and flute deepen a gentle, almost bucolic moment in this piece, until the tempo quickens with a dark oboe, thunderous timpani, and now-racing violins. A keyboard passage briefly eases the excitement, before the score ends on an eerie note with a full orchestra. Like a good suspense film, Howard's score for Signs is a shifting, multi-textured event that leaves listeners on the edge of their seats. Andrew Velez

All Music Guide

With Signs, composer James Newton Howard again joins director M. Night Shyamalan for their third collaboration following The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and clearly the film presents another thrilling encounter with the supernatural. From his opening "Main Theme," Howard ratchets up the tension, and his music thereafter alternates only between the ominous and the suspenseful. He overloads his lower tones, employing eight basses, five percussionists, and even a tuba, but also uses a large string section for short, fast, repetitive figures meant to keep viewers on the edges of their seats. This is not particularly imaginative music, just good old Saturday afternoon scary movie fare, the only distinguishing characteristic about it -- consistent with Shyamalan's style -- that it is so relentless. There's just no let up; dread pervades every moment of the director's films, to the point of emotional exhaustion for some, and the score has to have the same uncompromising approach, which can make it a little hard to take when listened to all the way through. William Ruhlmann