Up In the Air (Music from the Motion Picture)

If you enjoyed the soundtrack from 2007’s Juno, you’ll probably love the songs from 2009’s Up In the Air. Both films were directed by Jason Reitman, who has a predilection for making thoughtfully entertaining movies with quirkily developed characters and the kinds of top-shelf songs in the soundtracks that you’d expect to come from the collection of a MOJO magazine subscriber. Having Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings open with a retro reworking of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” sets a soulful tone. And lining up wistful musings by Dan Auerbach, Elliott Smith, Roy Buchanan and Sad Brad Smith perfectly punctuates the more melancholic moments. Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Taken At All” may be decades old, but the pensive folk-rocker sits here like it was recorded just for the film, as does the 1971 demo of Graham Nash’s “Be Yourself” – easily the brightest gem on this collection of wintry songs. Charles Atlas’ instrumental “The Snow Before Us” is another standout with its simple melodic lines and pretty guitar arpeggios. Kevin Renick bookends the album with a stripped down title-track that sounds like he called Reitman and played it for his answering machine.