Andy McCluskey sings on ‘The D Train’ soundtrack

Outside of OMD, the band occasionally collaborate with other artists on a variety of projects. Perhaps most notably of late, Paul Humphreys lending his remix services to Erasure’s ‘The Violet Flame’ (issued on a special release for Record Store Day).

Now Andy McCluskey has provided vocal duties for a collaboration with Andrew Dost of indie rock outfit Fun. Dost was responsible for composing the soundtrack to the Jack Black-starring film The D Train, which includes a song titled ‘A Million Stars’ featuring vocals from Andy McCluskey. You can hear the track (which is also due to be issued as the lead single from the soundtrack) via this link on the Under The Radar website.

The D Train is a comedy drama that explores Jack Black’s attempts to get a former classmate to attend their high school reunion. If that story seems to suggest hints of a John Hughes-era film, the comparison is apt as Andre Dost explains:

“The directors, Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul, absolutely had a clear vision. They knew right away that they wanted a synthesizer-driven, John Hughes-esque score. We tried a few different ideas anyway—a Western, Morricone-style sound, for example—but when we landed back on the synthesizers we knew it was the way to go.”

Of course OMD are no strangers to the work of John Hughes having contributed ‘If You Leave’ to the soundtrack of Pretty In Pink – simultaneously creating a whole new American audience for their music.

‘A Million Stars’ has that uptempo synthpop style that certainly slots into that narrative-driven film soundtrack world. At the same time it retains a solid contemporary feel and, as ever, it’s always interesting to hear Andy’s vocals outside of the usual OMD template.

The soundtrack also includes another OMD contribution in the form of ‘So In Love’, the Crush-era song released as a single in 1985 that still enjoys live outings at OMD concerts today.


‘A Million Stars’ is due for release on 28th April with the full soundtrack album to The D Train scheduled for release on 5th May.

www.lakeshore-records.com/thedtrain
www.d-trainmovie.com
www.andrewdost.com