Militant, female empowered — those may be words to describe “The Hunger Games,” and Arcade Fire’s contribution to its soundtrack. “Abraham’s Daughter” will be played over the end credits to the forthcoming blockbuster film, an appropriate march from your seat to the doors.
Regine Chassagne leads this one, instead of Win Butler, as she reports for duty as the fictional daughter of Father Abraham (who, you may remember, had many sons). She lightly sings on the left-right-left of the beat, a narrative that sounds almost anti-violence, a retort to the Biblical story of Abraham and his son Isaac on the mount. Its an ominous anthem that insinuates that lead Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) will have more work to do in the film’s sequel.
“Our whole approach was to get into the world and try to create something that serves the story and the film,” Butler told EW. ”There”s something in the story of Abraham and Isaac that I think resonates with the themes in the film, like sacrificing children. So we made a weird, alternate-universe version of that, where it”s as if Abraham had a daughter – kind of a metaphor for Katniss.”
The track is perfectly appropriate for what the film is about, though I’m eager to actually hear it in context. As for it being an Arcade Fire tune, there’s a quietLOUDquiet grandiosity missing, though for fans of Regine’s voice, it’s nice to hear it contained in the fuzzy guitars and the easy, slow rhythm.
Arcade Fire also contributed the “Horn of Plenty” theme to the score, which will be repeated in several iterations throughout.