Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book 'Into the Wild' retells the story of 22 year old, college graduate Christopher McCandless. In a journey that took him to the farmlands of North Dakota, the rivers and mountains of Colorado, the sand beaches of California, and finally, the wilderness of Alaska, McCandless searches for life's deeper meaning. Drawn to the powerful story, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder wrote and performed the soundtrack.

Most motion picture soundtracks feature songs from a variety of genres and performers. 'Into the Wild' is one of only two exceptions that I can recall that feature only one musician (the other being the acclaimed soundtrack from The Life Aquatic with songs performed by Seu Jorge). Inspired by the story of McCandless, Vedder captures the feeling of the film with eleven tracks that he wrote specifically for the movie.

With none of the first six tracks exceeding three minutes, the first half of the album breezes by. Despite the briefness, the first half is quite good as it unfolds the story of our heroic wanderer McCandless and shares the experience of escape while offering an explanation of why he abandoned his past life. The album is capped by the upbeat and inspirational seventh track Hard Sun. Corin Tucker accompanies Vedder with her beautiful voice that makes the listener feel that McCandless is going to be ok and the world is a beautiful place full of hope and opportunity.