Up to this day, the reasons why Mike Patton’s name does not appear in the dictionary under the definition for eclectic remain unknown. Being a singer in more than five bands, a producer, and running a label can never be enough, he now has to get involved in the film industry in order to complete the picture. Luckily for Patton, everything he touches eventually turns to some precious metal, which is precisely what happened to the score to Derrick Scocchera’s short film.

Not only does the A Perfect Place OST function as more than a soundtrack because of its length (it’s not everyday that one hears an OST that’s almost twice as long as the film), but also because of its structure. Without minding the interludes – tiny scraps allusively entitled "Car Radio (AM)" and "Car Radio (FM)" – Patton has managed to put together 35 minutes of repetitive joyfulness that steers clear from all possible (and, being aware of his boundless wit, I’d say even impossible) forms of blandness. However uplifting the jiff might be in its musical condition, it’s the cinematic state that turns it into a remarkable achievement. Even if you haven't seen Scocchera’s black and white short film, you can still pile up a whole lot of information and feelings only by hearing the soundtrack which, supposedly, was commissioned, and thus the mind behind illustrious names such as Mr. Bungle, Faith no More, Peeping Tom, Fantômas, et al. had to deal with converting words describing moving pictures into sound. 

There’s a classy yet ever so slightly menacing quality that A Perfect Place bears, most of it stemming from its orchestral attributes. The fusion of trumpets, piano, strings, electronic sounds, and even opera can immediately cue film aficionados to post noir, due to its jazzy and dark relish, and while most of the album stays on the instrumental side, a couple of tracks swerve as to serve Patton’s whim for vocals. Nevertheless, this caprice turns out to be favourable, for he came up with "A Perfect Twist," the track you will dance to in 10 years’ time after the advent of music in clubs all over the world.

What’s particularly uncanny about the soundtrack is that while the first two tracks enforce a theme that the next six religiously stick to, things seem to go a bit askew starting with "Batucada." Not being aware of the necessity of these songs in the actual film, I can only judge from what I hear, and mocked opera plus church chants never comes off as specifically enchanting in my musical bible, therefore I was confronted with a major turn off and the desire that for once, Patton had done it the sane way. Even so, the soundtrack transpires as outstanding, for what you can hear genuinely corresponds with what you can see and if, in some quaint space sound had color, this would certainly vent black and white. Then again, knowing the achromatic nature these have, it might not be wrong to deduce A Perfect Place OST is generally unsound.

-Diana Sitaru