DISCLOSURE DAY - OST Album MUSIC Discussion

[BB-8 6,429]

Liked the music around the IN-DI-ANA Motel. Where is that lokated on the OST?

[crumbs 16,099]

12 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

Liked the music around the IN-DI-ANA Motel. Where is that lokated on the OST?

 

I'm fairly sure this is included in OST track Caught, though haven't verified if the whole cue is included. Seems to be attached to another cue at the start.

[Jay 46,807]

@Incanus's review of the OST album is now available on the main page!

 

https://jwfan.com/jwfan-reviews-disclosure-day-soundtrack-album/

[Bespin Copilot 10,900]

47 minutes ago, Jay said:

@Incanus's review of the OST album is now available on the main page!

 

https://jwfan.com/jwfan-reviews-disclosure-day-soundtrack-album/

 

@Incanus I read your review, and I understand that according to the last paragraph, on a scale of 5, you would not give this a score of 5. Am I right?

[Taikomochi 1,534]

The track title ellipses gave that review such an unintended sarcastic tone, like each track is a huge disappointment 😂 

[Tom 6,984]

34 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

The track title ellipses gave that review such an unintended sarcastic tone, like each track is a huge disapppintment 😂 

I am really hoping that the official concert suite (assuming that there is one) keeps both the lowercase and ellipses.  

[Richard P 5,338]

The ellipses lend a sense of mystery. I like them.

 

The lower case reminds me of Olivia Rodrigo's new album. It doesn't fit a Williams drama score.

[Jesse 323]

I really like this soundtrack.
 

It is subdued and understated and rewarding in subtle ways.
It sounds on one hand familiar in tone and in the themes to other Williams scores, but also quite different and modern at times with all kinds of synths and minimalistic ostinatos.
And even when familiar, the material seems fresh and inspired. The action material sounds more serious than it did in DoD, which I quite like.

Sometimes the harmonies or the phrasing of the melodies go in rather unexpected, unconventional directions, which makes for a lot of interest in the music, and a second or third listen is rewarded with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the quality of the music. (Reminds me of Brahms in that regard.)

I’ve listened three times so far and liked it better each time. A great soundtrack.

[filmmusic 3,320]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

@Incanus's review of the OST album is now available on the main page!

 

https://jwfan.com/jwfan-reviews-disclosure-day-soundtrack-album/

Does it contain film spoilers?

[Taikomochi 1,534]

No

[Jay 46,807]

He hasn't even seen the film!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 12,684]

Very nice review. Thanks @Incanus

[Muad'Dib 2,095]

The Fury-like bit in Listen... does not come back anywhere else in the score or the film, right?

[handz 108]

Solid Score. Won’t be among my favorites, but it is definitely a nice listen….speaking of listening I still like the “Listen” track the  most - the theme works on me and I simply like the whole thing. 
 

will be definitely listening to the album a lot in next days.  Long live the King!

[King Mark 4,019]

overall there's a few scores this reminds me of

 

Born on the Fourth of July :Listen

Close encounters (Celestial)

A.I. The memory theme

Dial of Destiny. Action music, Chase

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith : The darker mysterious underscore

Last Jedi : The crop circles music

[Trope 1,490]

The buildup in “signs…” reminds me of a similarly arpeggiated buildup in “Setting the Type” from The Post.

[Marian Schedenig 11,872]

1:01+ in unseen… reminds me of the opening to this (and already did so immediately when I heard it in the film):

 

[BLUMENKOHL 1,113]

This score is a f'n home run. 'Nuff said. 

[Xander Harris 9,808]

Run home, Jack

[Edmilson 12,606]

Listening to the album for the third time today, after listening twice yesterday.

 

The darker, more suspenseful parts remind me of Presumed Innocent, War of the Worlds, and The Spark from The Last Jedi.

 

Some of the softer, more dramatic tracks have the typical John Williams string elegy heard in everything from Schindler's List, Amistad, Lincoln, etc. "Celestial" is a huge highlight with the cooing female choir echoing A.I. and the finale of Hook (when the ship is returning to London).

 

It's typical John Williams (which is great), but I do see some efforts to be more... I don't know, modern? More in line with modern times? As if he heard some recent spy music and put his own spin on it? I'm not sure about it, though, might be just an impression.

 

Overall, it's a grower. I like it more with each listen.

[Damien F 2,146]

I like The Fabelmans score but if Disclosure Day is to be his final score, it is a far more fitting end to his career with Spielberg.

[Edmilson 12,606]

On 10/06/2026 at 4:45 AM, Richard P said:

One full listen and there's a lot of interesting rhythmic material - I suppose the story lends itself to 'moving forward' propulsive music.

I really like John Williams' moving forward rhythmic propulsive music, it's one of my favorite things about his music. And it's why I'm more of a Lost World guy than a JP one (even though JP also has lots of this type of music, i.e. High Wire Stunts, etc). So I'm happy he went with this approach here.

 

On 10/06/2026 at 10:27 AM, Richard P said:

Weirdly, this score feels a bit like what Powell would've come up with, and he's a composer who I feel does well with 'music under dialogue'.

John, did John Powell give you a copy of The Bourne Identity OST when you were working together on Solo? 

 

 

[Richard P 5,338]

21 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

It's typical John Williams (which is great), but I do see some efforts to be more... I don't know, modern? More in line with modern times? As if he heard some recent spy music and put his own spin on it? I'm not sure about it, though, might be just an impression.

 

This is something I found notable about the score on first listen - all the hype and celebration about JW writing 'every note', yet a fair amount of it sounds like influence from other composers. I'm playing kcxe now, and I think if you told me this was a sample from the score, I wouldn't believe you. It sounds far closer to something that a more modern composer would write - and it's not the only piece like that.

 

Interestingly, that may explain why I like this more than DoD - it's Williams but with a modern touch.

 

I do think the album has a major issue with track ordering though. disclosure is a terrible choice for pre-credits music. Maybe listen could go in its place as an emotional wrap-up.

[BB-8 6,429]

Am I right in thinking that 'reprise' is an album exclusive and not part of the film?

[Jay 46,807]

Yes and no.

 

Before I saw the film and only had the album, I assumed it was an end credits composition.  It's basically a suite of the themes from the film, it sounds like an end credits cue!

 

But the actual film's end credits use different music:

 -about a minute of Reprise (the Memory theme section that begins about a minute into the track, might be different takes)

-all or most of Listen

-some of Celestial

-maybe something else?

-a vocal version of the Listen theme similar to the one at the end of In Vivo but different 

 

Now the film's end credits are short for a modern big budget movie, and they also only go page by page, no scrolling credits.  So perhaps they originally planned for longer credits (maybe Reprise followed by Listen?), then changed their minds and needed less music so changed things around?

 

Or, Reprise is a album track Williams put together that just sort of combines different arrangements that had been recorded?  The Empathy section in the middle for example is very similar to the Empathy track.

 

Basically, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on here.

[Taikomochi 1,534]

37 minutes ago, Richard P said:

 

This is something I found notable about the score on first listen - all the hype and celebration about JW writing 'every note', yet a fair amount of it sounds like influence from other composers. I'm playing kcxe now, and I think if you told me this was a sample from the score, I wouldn't believe you. It sounds far closer to something that a more modern composer would write - and it's not the only piece like that.

“disclosure” too sounds to me like a Desplat composition. Can’t think of an other time I felt that way about a Williams cue. Usually it’s Desplat who sounds like Williams. 

 

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

Reprise I assumed when I first heard it was a cue Williams wrote for the end credits.  It's basically a suite of themes from the score.  So it's kind of weird that most of it isn't in the film's end credits.  Maybe they originally thought they'd need more music in the end credits but then they got shortened when they decided to do page-by-age credits instead of scrolling credits?  I dunno.  The middle part of this sounds like another take of the same Empathy concert arrangement so its hard to tell what's going on here exactly.

So is it certainly a different recording of “empathy”?

[Jay 46,807]

I think so, haven't checked it out definitively or anything

[Taikomochi 1,534]

That would annoy me less if it was at least a different take. Honestly, I think the album would have closed just fine if “reprise” ended where it does on those bass notes before the “empathy” piano comes in. Maybe throw a single play of the vocal “listen” theme to give the album a spooky close, like the celeste on the Azkaban album. Idk. 

[Damien F 2,146]

18 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yes and no.

 

Before I saw the film and only had the album, I assumed it was an end credits composition.  It's basically a suite of the themes from the film, it sounds like an end credits cue!

 

But the actual film's end credits use different music:

 -about a minute of Reprise (the Memory theme section that begins about a minute into the track, might be different takes)

-all or most of Listen

-some of Celestial

-maybe something else?

-a vocal version of the Listen theme similar to the one at the end of In Vivo but different 

 

Now the film's end credits are short for a modern big budget movie, and they also only go page by page, no scrolling credits.  So perhaps they originally planned for longer credits (maybe Reprise followed by Listen?), then changed hteir minds and needed less music so changed things around.

 

Or, Reprise is a album track Williams put together that just sort of combines different arrangements that had been recorded.  The Empathy section in the middle for example is very similar to the Empathy track.

 

Basically, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on here.

 

According to Mark Kermode, Reprise at the start of the end credits sounds like The X Files 

 

 

[Holko 12,108]

Piano source cue missing. 0/10.

[Chewy 2,917]

Desplat must be kinda proud that Williams stole some of his music from Zero Dark Thirty

 

 

 

[Taikomochi 1,534]

5 minutes ago, Chewy said:

Desplat must be kinda proud that Williams stole some of his music from Zero Dark Thirty

 

 

 

Wow that is pretty blatant… and I just compared a different track to Desplat a few posts up 😬 

[Jay 46,807]

Randy Kerber worked on both scores

[Tydirium 1,644]

 

The strings at 1:09 remind me of the beginning of...

 

 

[Chewy 2,917]

Another section in "dive..." also seems super inspired by Zero Dark Thirty:

 

 

 

[Taikomochi 1,534]

That’s less problematic to me since it’s just a synth beat

[Chewy 2,917]

5 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

That’s less problematic to me since it’s just a synth beat

 

Yep the strings are different enough

 

11 minutes ago, Jay said:

Randy Kerber worked on both scores

Are you sure? I can't find him in the credits in both Discogs and IMDB

[Richard P 5,338]

I wonder if that's what has bugged me about this score - Desplat?

 

But I don't like most of Desplat's work, yet I like this 

[Henry Janislaus Feigensand 641]

so many threads - not sure where to put it. but here's my first rough transcription of believe… (work in progress). 

 

[BB-8 6,429]

Listen and Reprise are growing massively on me.

 

Where does this music come from?

 

[Taikomochi 1,534]

From Alexandre Desplat apparently

[Henry Janislaus Feigensand 641]

30 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

Where does this music come from?
 

listen...!

[Muad'Dib 2,095]

You guys are reacting like this was the first time JW followed the temp-track closely...

[Jay 46,807]

52 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

Where does this music come from?

 

 

 

[hp_gof 217]

1 hour ago, Taikomochi said:

From Alexandre Desplat apparently

Speaking of Desplat, I gotta say this score gave me major Desplat vibes a few times. Honestly, if he wrote it, people would complain, but since it's Williams, everyone loves it  "In Vivo" also really reminds me of Desplat's minimalist underscore.

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 9,377]

God I hate temp tracks...

[JazzyNips 205]

Lol when I was wondering how someone could rip off a throbbing synth bass, but then I listened to the Zero Dark Thirty track and by God he did it!

[King Mark 4,019]

Speaking of Desplat, Memory is kind of like this

 

 

[Bayesian 1,640]

The DD score is a curious, fascinating listen (no pun intended). It really is, like 95% texture and atmosphere. The synth elements (in "disclosure..." especially) remind me of something James Newton Howard might do -- not remotely a criticism, just fascinating to hear that layer on top of orchestral writing that in many ways sounds so JW but just as often sounds almost nothing like JW. I'm going to need to spend serious time with this soundtrack and see the film a second time to properly wrap my head around it, but it's already very quickly growing on me.

 

Incidentally, having just seen the movie, I see why JW would have wanted to score this film with restraint. DD just isn't the kind of storytelling that warrants a "big" sound. Overscoring this movie would have been like JW and Spielberg believing we the audience wouldn't understand or appreciate the story beats or overall message without loud musical help.

 

Standout tracks so far: chase..., unseen..., kcxe..., disclosure..., reprise... Especially reprise... good lord that track is a knockout. I really hope this score isn't the last word on the greatest director/composer partnership known to the history of filmmaking, but if it has to be, I couldn't be happier that reprise... gets to be that last word. It's gorgeous beyond words.

[rp75012 17]

13 hours ago, Chewy said:

Desplat must be kinda proud that Williams stole some of his music from Zero Dark Thirty

 

 

 

it’s not even an inspiration, it’s a pure rip off :D

 

The Good thing is I don’t think even JW knows he has his name on this track cause he probably didn’t write it. Not his writing style at all