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Aug 22, 2016The soundtrack brings together the two phases of Walker, so to speak: the rich, sweeping orchestral one heard from The Walker Brothers and through the solo Scotts 1-4, before morphing into the avant-garde, claustrophobic, doom-laden one from 1995’s Tilt onwards.
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The WireOct 21, 2016Walker's latest project effectively balances the saccharine with hovering fear, demonstrating his continued capacity for writing cinematic music invested with strange drama. [Sep 2016, p.57]
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Oct 10, 2016The Childhood of a Leader opens up further notions on the increasing use of mise en scene within Scott's music as well as positioning himself as a modern composer utilising cinematic techniques within narrative frameworks. It is an unexpectedly urgent addition to a master's late period canon.
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Sep 7, 2016A dark, turbulent, and welcome entry in Walker's catalog.
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Aug 22, 2016It’s a terrifying and hypnotic listen.
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MojoAug 12, 2016Almost exclusively orchestral, this soundtrack works brilliantly as a half-hour suite. [Sep 2016, p.90]
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Aug 12, 2016Looking beyond the harsh aesthetic, Walker has created a score that is rich in texture and highly innovative.
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Aug 12, 2016Scott Walker is more interested in moving forward than looking back and with the soundtrack to The Childhood of a Leader his music is as unique as ever.
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Aug 22, 2016The Childhood of a Leader is a clear high water mark for Walker in terms of instrumental writing, but it is also, in many ways, an apt extension of textural ideas Walker has explored on his past two albums.
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Aug 24, 2016It is an impressive work but sans context, it largely will pass a casual listener by as merely a moody and atmospheric soundtrack without much for them to sink their teeth into.
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UncutAug 12, 2016This being a soundtrack and not a convetional Scott Walker album, there is no sign of that pale, lieder that floats through latterday Scott Walker records like a phantom. But there are clear points of continuity between The Childhood OF A Leader and recent studio albums The Drift and Bisch Bosch. [Sep 2016, p.68]
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Aug 25, 2016Despite Andrews’ occasionally overwrought attempts to conjure up a mood of malevolent fate by channelling his inner Nick Cave, it’s an absorbing journey.