Vision Quest, My Brilliant Career and more

L’écologie des sentiments (Agathe Lavarel, 2026)

This is French romantic dramedy about a young man who works at a hotel in Paris, and who is subsequently smitten by a young woman who checks in. Composer Agathe Lavarel makes her impressive feature film debut with a score that is part quasi-classical, part quirk. Utilizing voices – sometimes wordless, sometimes not – across quaint baroque chamber ensemble phrasings, she also spices things up with synths and certain unusual instruments (like what appears to be a lobby bell?). It’s an infectious soundscape she conjures up over the course of just 18 minutes, one of those brief, under-the-radar gems that pops up every year. Favourite tracks: «Le premier acte de Lola», «Amour passionnel entre les keufs et les vegans», «S’aimer sans sommier»

Vision Quest (Boris Salchow, 2025)

Not to be confused with the similarly named Marvel series that’s about to hit TV screens in October, this is a US documentary about ancient, spiritual healing practices (the term itself being a Native American name for a rite-of-passage). Appropriately, the score by German composer Boris Salchow is a dreamy, ethereal affair, ripe with spacey synth pads and exotic percussion sounds. Sustained human voices merge with floating chords, which almost become therapeutic, at least for us tinnitus sufferers. While it may sound boring to restless souls, the constant ebb and flow has a beautiful, hypnotic “New Age” quality across its succinct 32 minutes. Enthralling. Favourite tracks: «Why Are We Here», «Building a Universe», «Spirits»

The Christophers (David Holmes, 2025)

Steven Soderberg’s latest film, a black comedy starring Ian McKellen, revolves around the attempted forgery of a famous artist’s unfinished works, in order to claim the inheritance. Composer David Holmes has of course worked with Soderbergh a number of times, with the Ocean’s series their most famous collaboration. For this film, Holmes creates a score with a wistful, almost lullaby-like slant (perhaps to connote the scheming children of the artist) – primarily realized through old, analogue synths (plus organ? Xylophone? Glockenspiel?) in the higher register, lounging its way through the succinct 27 minutes. Jazzy, 60s basslines meet Ron Grainer’s The Omega Man meets shimmering, almost Vangelis-like textures. Another elegant hit from Holmes. Favourite tracks: «Why Would I Do That?», «Lori Butler», «Lying to Myself the Whole Time»

My Brilliant Career (François Tétaz, 2026)

This Australian mini series, based on Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel, is set in the early 20^th century, and tells the story of a budding young female writer who lives in the Australian countryside, but whose career plans are thwarted because of a romance. François Tétaz, who wrote one of 2025’s ten best scores in The Surfer, returns with another interesting work – a hybrid child of Mychael Nyman and Ennio Morricone where quasi-minimalist, baroque modulations meet quirky instrumental effects (like whistling). Given the somewhat staccato nature of the music, it is perhaps slightly too long at 50 minutes, but Tétaz mixes it up with slower, more heartfelt moments, or Thomas Newman-esque textures to give it enough variation. Favourite tracks: «Forbidden Fruit», «An Acquired Taste», «Love in the Shadows»

Tombé du ciel (Brice Davoli, 2026)

If you just look at the poster of this French comedy, a fish-out-of-water story about a failed student who must join Catholic boarding school, you’d think there was nothing interesting about it, nor musically. But there actually is. Across only 14 minutes, composer Brice Davoli gets to have a lot of fun – mixing religious boy’s choir chants with funk, regional colours and pop beats. It’s really the choral sprinkling that lift this beyond straightforward comedy scoring. A brief, but amusing collage score that would make 90s New Age act Era proud. Favourite tracks: «Vono Adis», «Football», «Course poursuite»

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (Olivier Derivière, 2026)

This is an action-adventure videogame from Asobo Studio, the third installment in the Plague Tale series, about two siblings who try to survive in 14^th century, Black Death-infested France. Olivier Derivière, one of the foremost videogame composers of our time (Remember Me, 11-11 Memories Retold), creates yet another interesting score – ripe with medieval, religioso choir, time and geography-specific solo instruments and some (less interesting) rhythmical action patterns. Similarly to John Lunn’s The Last Kingdom scores, it’s an absorbing , conceptual crossover affair that mixes ethnic colours (with its Crete setting), period music and spacey vocals to great effect. As often with videogame scores, the album is too long at 90 minutes, but there’s a solid hour here if you’re up for some pruning. Favourite tracks: «The Land», «Patera», «The Presence»