Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Music From the Film Young Adam (2003)

Like Paul Westerberg recording for Vagrant, there's something beautiful about David Byrne working with Thrill Jockey -- the wizened elder teaming up with young indie kin just as the major labels seem done with him. This mostly instrumental set draws from the score of a Scottish indie about a barge worker (tres-hot Ewan McGregor) trying to screw his ghosts away. Long on strings and ambient guitars, Byrne's music is wonderfully brooding without losing the odd bounce in its step; chamber-rock moonlighters from Mogwai and Belle & Sebastian help capture the regional vibe. SINGING FROM THE HEAD ''The Great Western Road'' is a surreal piano ballad with Byrne sounding like a cross between Groucho Marx and God.