Diary Of Sound: 5 Tunes We're Listening To Right Now

Welcome to On-Screen's latest feature, a semi-regular diary of classic melodies!
It shouldn't come as any surprise for you to hear that sound, and thus music, can and does have just as much of an intrinsic sensory impact upon our lives as that which we see, smell or feel. On a superficial level, the objects and words that we witness and our emotional responses to situations in the 'real' world (though let's not delve too far into attempting to define that obscenely abstract realm) can enlighten our perspectives on this aural medium of entertainment, offering the listener means through which they can tangibly express their reaction to a chord, a refrain or any isolated note of significance.

This process works both ways, however, and as such, music in itself can immeasurably enlighten and enrich our day-to-day lives with those same chords, refrains and notes, and one might reasonably assert that even the need to describe its effects to our peers is but a trivial, perhaps irrelevant, factor in the grand scheme of the medium's influence. Here at On-Screen, on a semi-regular basis as of today, we'll be recapping some of those isolated tracks which have had the most profound significance for one reason or another, in recent times or times long past, however simple or impossible the reason in question is to define. More than anything, our definition of a song's majesty, its hold over the listener, should suffice only as a foundation for your own exploration of the piece, for the subjectivity of experiencing music (or any entertainment medium, for that matter) is by far its centrally defining and enduring attribute.

To begin, then, read on below for an overview of five tracks deriving from a range of contrasting genres and contexts, each of which will hopefully evoke a passionate discourse in some form, no matter what the subject of the argument or, indeed, your position within it:

1. FARE THEE WELL (MARCUS MUMFORD & OSCAR ISAAC)- Currently doing the rounds as the backing soundtrack to the UK trailer for CBS Films' musical drama Inside Llewyn Davis, Fare Thee Well was formerly known as Dink's Song and performed by American folk artists like Pete Seeger and Jeff Buckley. This latest version comes from Llewyn stars Mumford and Isaac, and adopts something of a calmer and so doubly haunting approach compared to its predecessors- if the film itself conforms to a tone somewhere along the lines, then we await its release next month with earnest anticipation.

2. LET IT GO (IDINA MENZEL)- Our review of Frozen and our naming Disney's latest animated feature as the Best Release of December 2013 should ideally have been more than enough to convince you to give it a watch, but if not, then its Oscar-nominated piece de resistance should be the necessitated icing on the cake. Let It Go is a bombastic reassertion of purpose and direction for the flick's cold-hearted (see what we did there?) antihero Elsa, and certainly represents the most explosive acceptance of imposed exile that we have witnessed on the big-screen in some time. No wonder, then, it's become such an instant hit with viewers the world over, yours truly included...

3. STUBBORN LOVE (THE LUMINEERS)- Another delightful piece that we stumbled across courtesy of a motion picture's marketing campaign, Stubborn Love was evidently a hidden gem on The Lumineers' première album in 2012, titled (creatively) The Lumineers. If it does seem familiar, then you've probably happened upon it within the theatrical trailer for upcoming drama-comedy August: Osage County (starring the Oscar-tipped Meryl Streep); regardless, upon experiencing it in isolation, you'll no doubt remember it on its own whimsical merits, and add it as we have to the band's already impressive list of folk hits. Ho Hey has its first truly noteworthy rival, and better yet, it transpires that the rivalry has existed unknown for two years!

4. HE LIVE IN YOU REPRISE (THE LION KING ENSEMBLE)- An old favourite of ours, since The Lion King and We Will Rock You are tied neck-our-neck for our personal highlight of West End musical theatre, the former's He Lives In You (Reprise) is thankfully a far superior rendition of a track originally conceived in the direct-to-video film sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. As its title suggests, the song is a reprisal from an earlier moment in the production, but its placement as the captivating instigator of Simba's election to reclaim his kingdom in the name of his murdered father Mufasa is quite simply perfect. Again, if readers were still desiring a concrete reason to experience the show in all its glory at the Lyceum Theatre or on Broadway, then I can only hope that this superlative taster does the trick.

5. DEMONS (IMAGINE DRAGONS)- A latecomer to this week's list, Imagine Dragons' stellar Demons is nonetheless a song which craves and deserves the attention of any seasoned indie rock follower. Sure, it's just a single component of the band's similarly superb début album Night Visions, but it's the best track of the compilation by a fair margin, and should be gracing our airwaves more frequently now given its recent release as a standalone single. If ever there's a moment where life has you down, I've often found that pieces such as this are oddly yet consistently empowering and reaffirming, and that they hold a cherished place in this listener's heart as a result...

BONUS BONE OF CONTENTION: DISASTER MOVIE END SONG- As a little extra snippet in each of these semi-regular feature articles, I'll include one other 'song' (the clip may occasionally stretch the definition of that term, though that's not necessarily a detrimental factor) on the list which is either intended as light humour or to stir things up a little in terms of generic preferences and what listeners might generally regard as 'trash pop', with my justification in the latter case to be found either here or on social networking forums as and when it's requested. First up is a particularly memorable inclusion in the soundtrack of Jason Friedberg's atrocious parody Disaster Movie, boasting perhaps the most diverse ensemble of cinematic icons to date!