"Dark Matter is Randy Newman's first album of new songs in nine years and his smart mix of cynicism and sentiment is fully intact ... Did I mention most of these songs feature an orchestra? Randy Newman can get an orchestra to pull tears from you like a pickpocket. His sleight-of-hand is to bring out a monster and make you see the human underneath. He makes the better part of his living writing music for Pixar movies, and has been awarded several Grammys for the work"