While developing the film's story Doremus listened to several of the music from Paul Simon, M83, and various bands and artists, serving as the fabric of the film.[2] He then assembled the similar set of songs on a CD and gave to the lead actors Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin and rest of the cast and crew to listen throughout production. The music helped those actors dive into the characters, as Yelchin said "I tend to be very cynical and coldhearted about love stories, but the CD really got to me".[3]
Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com complimented the soundtrack choices setting the mood for the film.[4] Jenna R. Overton of The Harvard Crimson praised the "several slow soundtrack ballads throughout the ups and downs of their relationship to keep the tears flowing".[5] Maggie Liu of The Tech wrote "The soundtrack usually consists of instrumentals with sparse or barely heard lyrics".[6]IndieWire ranked it as one among the "Best Film Soundtracks of 2011".[7]
Dan Mecca of The Film Stage called it as a "solid, piano-heavy score".[8] Derrick Bang of The Davis Enterprise wrote "Dustin O’Halloran’s spare, evocative, piano-based score is the final graceful touch: the perfect complement to the highs and lows of this tender, fragile love affair."[9] Ian Forbes of Showbiz Junkies commented that the score "perfectly complements the tone of the film".[10] IndieWire also ranked the score as one among the "Best Film Scores of 2011";[7] Oliver Lyletton called his work as "introspective, bittersweet and devastating, capturing snapshot emotions of fear, hope, worry and longing all in a beautifully fragile work of tender and melancholy piano."[7]
