The Sixth Sense

Track Listing

01 - Run to the Church (1:20)

02 - De Profundis (2:24)

03 - Mind Reading (2:43)

04 - Photographs (0:53)

05 - Suicide Ghost (1:33)

06 - Malcolm's Story / Cole's Secret (4:03)

07 - Hanging Ghosts (2:31)

08 - Tape of Vincent (3:27)

09 - Help the Ghosts / Kyra's Ghost (4:28)

10 - Kyra's Tape (2:00)

11 - Malcolm is Dead (4:47)

Orchestrated by Jeff Atmajian, Brad Dechter, Robert Elhai, and

James Newton Howard

Conducted by Pete Anthony

Produced by James Newton Howard

Released by Varèse Sarabande Records on August 24, 1999

Total Running Time: 30:15

It’s been over five years since M. Night Shyamalan’s first breakout film, The Sixth Sense, hit theatres. Since that time, we have been treated to three additional films from Shyamalan, all receiving different levels of box office and critical success, but all being a solid credit list for the director and for composer James Newton Howard, who brought his unique sensibilities on board in such a way that proved he was the perfect choice to match the vision that Shyamalan brought to the screen. As the film is over half a decade old, I figure that probably most people have seen it already. If not, be warned that the following review may contain a few minor spoilers.

What James Newton Howard brought to the film was the essence of the supernatural, something that is never fully realized (on purpose) in the visuals. Everything in The Sixth Sense is anchored in reality as far as the locations are concerned. It is the individuals themselves which may or may not exist in the "real" world. For most of the film, it is the real-life situations and scenarios that take over the plotline, with the supernatural elements only occurring here and there. Of course, the film does have one continuing element, but that isn’t revealed until its final moments. Thus, what Howard’s score needed to accomplish was to pull the film out of the realm of the ordinary and into the supernatural and the eerie. Ultimately, with his masterful constructions of piano and string orchestrations, and the use of subtly layered synth and voice effects, the score for The Sixth Sense does just that.

For the most part, Howard's music tends to work in a way that hypnotizes you with its beauty and crawls up underneath your skin while you don’t even notice until the full effect takes you over. The mystery is in the flowing string sections and tingling piano moments, but occasionally the more malevolent scenes call for typical orchestral clashes. These are necessary I suppose, to support what is on-screen, but these cues typically stand out in a disenchanting way. There are thankfully few of them. Those used to the longer running times of subsequent Howard scores will be disappointed to know that this album has a running time of a very thrift 30 minutes, giving us only a hint at the musical construction going on through the score. Sad, but at least this score is available, and that’s what counts, right?

I’m willing to guess that most people who want this score already have it. If, however, you’re undecided, the words of advice are to see the film (if you haven’t already), and if you want to experience Howard’s haunting, supernatural score, pick this one up. Just make sure you’re not alone, because if your neck hair starts to stand up…