Sofia Coppola's impressionistic romance #Lost in Translation features an equally impressionistic and romantic soundtrack that plays almost as big a role in the film as Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen do. In the film, Bob and Charlotte are able to stretch their instant connection as strangers in a strange land into something that seems to last longer and feel deeper because of their need to believe in a love like that; their relationship is a beautiful, fleeting little world unto itself, and the music that plays behind them emphasizes the romantic fever dream. The soundtrack's luminous atmospherics come from a variety of sources, but My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields leads the pack by contributing the Loveless classic Sometimes and four new tracks penned under his own name. A nearly perfect song from a nearly perfect album, Sometimes is so incredibly gorgeous, and so effortlessly accomplished, that in hindsight it's easier (if no less frustrating) to understand why Shields is so hesitant about putting out any new material in the wake of songs like this. However, while his new tracks don't reach Loveless' peaks, they're not intended to; open-ended pieces like the naïve, guitar-driven City Girl and the abstractly poignant, Eno-inspired Goodbye may be somewhat disappointing as songs (especially new songs from one of music's most reticent visionaries), but they work well as soundtrack material. Ikebana and especially Are You Awake? suggest some of the electronic forays that Shields wanted to explore with My Bloody Valentine before he stopped working under that name; while both tracks, particularly the latter, are lovely, they're so fleeting that it's hard to tell whether or not they really indicate a new direction in Shields' work.

1		Intro/Tokyo
2		City Girl
3		Fantino
4		Tommib
5		Girls
6		Goodbye
7		Too Young
8		Kaze Wo Atsumete
9		On the Subway
10		Ikebana
11		Sometimes
12		Alone in Kyoto
13		Shibuya
14		Are You Awake?
15		Just Like Honey/More Than This