“I don't think any of us are normal people.”
― Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson films are noted for their aesthetically pleasing color pallets and peculiar, fantastical story-lines that playfully blur the distinction between reality and fantasy. But his films also carefully curate these same ideas within the musical underscoring of each film in his catalog, exhibiting a penchant for the curious, the quirky, the charming, the aloof, and the misunderstood. One of the most iconic elements of his oeuvre, from The Grand Budapest Hotel to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou includes an underscoring technique that is as dynamic and rich as the colors he paints with visually.

In this Olio we're going to pay close attention to the role of timbre in Wes Anderson scores, or instrumental tone color, which is akin to painting with hues if discussing the visual arts. We'll investigate his two aforementioned classics, but also discuss The Royal Tenenbaums and Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, which are earlier works in his oeuvre in an effort to also look into the larger themes that concern the artist at large.