At long last, after an Oscar nomination landed in their lap — or, more specifically, in the laps of William Butler and the band’s frequent contributor, Owen Pallett — Arcade Fire‘s full, 13-song soundtrack for Her has been made available. For myself, it can be considered overdue on account of some slight dissatisfaction: while the newest Spike Jonze film builds a strange, melancholy world with the assistance of their strange, melancholy arrangements, it’s a predominantly “minimal” selection — as I described to a friend after the NYFF screening: littered with piano keys and defined by a certain airiness — that, frankly, didn’t leave much of an impression when placed between Joaquin Phoenix talking to his Scarlett Johansson-voiced computer. (This trailer, largely advertising their collaboration, was arguably a more effective meld of players and material.)

I had expressed this trepidation in my review of the film, at the time saying that a group this prominent should, in some way, leave a bigger impression than a passing fancy — and I’m somewhat (somewhat) ready to eat those words upon hearing, in full, a very eclectic and, yes, emotionally effective group of tunes in their original incarnation. Do you need to hear any more, or are you already planning to give the full thing a listen? Let’s just hope this leads to a full-scale release in the coming days or weeks.

Update: Check out behind-the-scenes footage of the band creating the score.

What do you make of the soundtrack? Were you a fan of its implementation in Jonze’s film?