Karen O & The Kids- Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack (***½)

Maurice Sendak has left a mark on nearly 5 decades of kids and parents alike with his charming children’s book, Where The Wild Things Are. Meticulously crafted with care and love, Where The Wild Things Are represents the best kind of children’s story, one carefully made to be entertaining, as well as present subconscious lessons about life and friendship.

So it’s no surprise that the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Deerhunter, The Dead Weather, Liars, and The Raconteurs were all called in to supplement Spike Jonze’s much labored, live-action adaptation. Whimsically credited to Karen O & The Kids, the Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack is a rare album that retains enough rambunctious energy for kids, but appeals to a higher musical sophistication.

Forget Kidz Bop, this is the album to drive the kids to daycare with.

Beginning with the wistful humming and delicate acoustic guitar of “Igloo” to the splashy drums and gang harmonies of “Sailing Home” the Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack balances a fine line between jangly folk-pop and music box laden ballads. Listeners will immediately gravitate to rollicking bombast of “All Is Love,” with its shuffling beat, child backed gang vocals, and subtle piano, but disc is full of rewarding gems.

The biggest draw to the material, however, has to be Karen O’s song writing.

While the album is void of the jagged anger and sexual frustration that marks the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ material, O seems to have found a way to express her thoughts without constructing them like Hallmark jingles. Instead, cuts like the dreamy “Hideaway” find O connecting to listeners with lines like, “Right away, gonna take me from my man/By the way, no they’ll never understand/We’ll have a bit of fun/Watching everyone/Pass us by…” Sweet but never saccharine, O juggles baring her soul with grabby hooks as the spacious ballad is awash with twinkling keyboards, humming acoustics, and brushed cymbals.

Elsewhere, O lends her rich voice to a sparse cover of Daniel Johnson’s “Worried Shoes.” As a low and rich piano provides the song’s spine, other instruments creep in with a gentle tenderness that mirrors O’s frailty. Jaunt xylophone rounds out the track nicely, but what makes it work is the atmosphere O conjures from these simple sounds fitting together like puzzle pieces.

The elegance is in its simplicity, much like Sendak’s beloved novel.

While the album isn’t overrun by balladry, they certainly provide the disc’s emotional core. Still, there is plenty of fun to be had throughout the album’s 40 minute running time. “Capsize” reveals in big shout outs and handclaps, while the percussive stomp of “Rumpus” recalls the joy that comes from children at play. Through a crescendo of hoots and hollers, the track is a perfect feel good moment, one that reveals in the innocence of youth and the unbridled fun that stems from that freedom. If listeners have to ask where the wild things are at, look no further.

Yet for all the sparkling highs, there is a fair share of misses, a reasonable casualty when you’re dealing with a child-like aesthetic.

For one thing, the disc is terribly front-loaded, the most engaging arrangements and poignant atmospheres taking place within the first 7 tracks. Additionally, while the child backing vocals help mold the feel of the music, O and producer Carter Burwell get sloppy with them on the back 7 tracks. “Animal” is a scatter shot, untamed number that could have been shaped into something much less forgettable with a little discipline. Additionally, “Heads Up” feels a bit too campfire eager to have any real staying power, and the repeated musical motifs in “Building All Is Love” undermine the album’s freshness.

It just goes to show you that after all the running around and playing, people get tired.

Complaints aside, however, the Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack succeeds in a variety of ways. Easily accessible while remaining substantive, it offers a great sonic palate for the film as well as remaining strong as a group of songs. Though rough around the edges, it seems that Karen O & The Kids have been able to put their sonic stamp on Sendak’s work in the same manner Jonze put his visual stamp on it. Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack feels like a convergence of great ideas, ideas that are just as fun to experience to as they are to dissect.

In this way, the soundtrack perfectly captures the feeling of the film and the feeling of Sendak’s classic: Truths can be gleaned from simple stories, fragile melodies, and the wildest of rumpuses. While this seems like a no-brainer, it took Karen O and a bunch of kids to make that clear.

Key Cuts: All Is Love, Rumpus, Hideaway

Sounds Like: Your first day of Kindergarten.

Click on the artwork to sample some of Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack for yourself!