Several recent indie cinema releases have featured pleasingly off-kilter soundtracks. From No Country For Old Men’s use of sparse ambient noise to Lars and the Real Girl’s blend of acoustic and electronic instruments, there’s more going on than simply signalling when the audience is supposed to be feeling sad.

There Will Be Blood, like the film it accompanies, is often difficult. The opening Wide Open Spaces signals the determination and loneliness of its title character through a deep, sonorous string line and atonal chord progressions. Composer Jonny Greenwood has often expressed his interest in “wrong” string sounds – they appear in his full-time project Radiohead’s works such as 2000’s How To Disappear Completely – and here he explores their full range, from sweeping scales to nagging staccato. Echoing The Shining’s use of classical music to represent something out of place, it’s hardly a relaxing listen, but definitely worthy of attention in its own right.