Get the wild rumpus started

From the opening line of Max’s mother telling him “I could use a story,” the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s new film tells a great one.
The album was spearheaded by indie rocker Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with backup from other bands like Deerhunter, The Liars and The Raconteurs. Backup vocals, however, are noted as being by The Kids, literally made up of a group of children. Despite having not been vocally trained at all, their contributions help make  the soundtrack the perfect backdrop of happiness, sadness, innocence and resolution.
Songs like the upbeat “All is Love” and “Rumpus” have a childlike bounce to them, while “Lost Fur” and “Food is Still Warm” pluck your heartstrings the same way they pluck the guitar.
O tosses in an obscure cover that resonates far longer than the original. Daniel Johnson’s “Worried Shoes” is given new life through plinking piano keys, blipping xylophone and O’s haunting vocals, ironically stating, “And my shoes took me so many miles and they never wore out.”
The overall tone of the album itself sits somewhere in the world of an indie-folk-pop hybrid, though not straying far enough away from any of those styles to make it come across as messy.
If the album does have a fault, it would be the sound of redundancy. Some of the instrumental pieces specifically do go on a bit longer than they feel like they should. Another major flaw would be the lack of the redone version of “Wake Up” from The Arcade Fire heard in the trailer.
The album is far from an overly mastered soundtrack full of well-known bands. Instead, it comes off as though O simply plugged her headphones into the head of Max in his wolf pajamas and recorded what came out.
If the film itself has heart, the soundtrack is undoubtedly the blood it pumps. Not only does it capture the feel of the film, it’s the kind of album you’d want if you were setting out on an adventure all your own.