Crash (soundtrack)

Isham was a friend of Paul Haggis who was eventually hired to score the film, before the production began. Haggis insisted him on the moments where the score was prominent—the fire at the car wreck, and the locksmith's daughter, with the gun—which were the brave moments, where the director has to believe in music. Isham said that in independent filmmaking, the most successful thing is finding fresh approach where due to minimal budget, he has to come up with "a clever idea to get a certain emotional impact, without all of the access to the tried-and-true" and create much as any film that costs a billion times more, comparing his film to that of Star Wars which had a huge budget.[6]

Paul used the film with temp scores, one from The Prayer Cycle (1999) by Jonathan Elias, which was decent from "ambient sounds". He wanted to use a female voice in the score as Isham liked it and thought it would resemble to Hans Zimmer's score for Gladiator (2000). Haggis had previously licensed five songs from Loreena McKennitt's library and went back and forth between her songs, where he could write around and completely design it that way. But it did not suit his plan. Later, he wrote four and five pieces of music which hit the emotional tones and two and three being a vocal track. He hired Carol Ensley to perform Welsh language and Catherine Grant in Latin and Farsi, as she was a former ethnomusicologist and professional singer, she could sing various languages so that it sounded different.[6]

Music critic Jonathan Broxton commented "Crash will not appeal to a large audience as its sluggish pace and ambient approach provides few, if any, memorable moments. For this willing to take the plunge and dive into Isham’s ocean of synth pads, an almost Zen-like experience lies ahead."[7] He concluded the review, calling it as "an expertly crafted and beautiful score that works both as a dramatic film score and as a meditative experience".[7] Reviewing it as a "sculpted and personal affair", critic Thom Jurek writing for AllMusic commented:[1]

"Inside the context of the film the score helps to shift and move scenes, underscores the subtleties in characters, hovers about dialogue, and adds to both the human and dramatic tension in the complex narrative. As a piece of music, it's moody, often somber; it meanders, floats, stirs, and quietly and thoughtfully suggests rather than insists."[1]

Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks.com reviewed it as "a morbid listening experience for all but the most somber, melodramatic of types".[8] James Southall of Movie Wave called it as an "exceptionally moving score" that features the "attractive synth score" referencing Angelo Badalamenti's work for The Straight Story (1999) and concluded it as the "strongest score of the year to date".[9] Thomas Glorieux of Maintitles called the score as "moody" and "atmosphere".[10] James Barry of Soundtrack.Net complimented it as "challenging, surprising, moving, and ultimately cathartic and uplifting."[11]

Jurek also reviewed the accompanying soundtrack in his website, calling "a bit heavy handed in places and the music can be uneven, but it's nonetheless pleasant and a seamless listen".[4]