"One of the treats of this film is the outstanding new score from Juliet Merchant, which brings out the film's operatic intensity, and its plaintive beauty." - Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian
"Merchant’s score cooperates with this cinematography skilfully, incorporating uneasy rumbling tones with darkened shots of unsafe, crumbling machinery. Low bass drones accompany images of grinding machinery, while romantic swells of strings are employed during instances of unity and rebellion. Merchant expertly uses moments of silence to create tension, and removes the continuous beat of the percussion during the film’s pivotal fire, creating an eerie discomfort by focusing attention on the horrific images on screen, without the addition of any flourished theatrical, emotional score, thus plainly laying out Bek-Nazaryan’s vision. Gradually, the music is brought back through moments of high-frequency synth drones which evoke helpless screams.
Merchant’s performance of her score was an absolute triumph, the composer having worked with an Armenian orchestra to incorporate instrumentation from the Caucasus alongside more modern synth sounds. Distorted lofi crackles of bassy synths worked together with the intense quick-cut montage of the film’s climactic sequence. In a short talk following the film’s screening, Merchant informed the audience that her objective in writing the score was to bring a new atmosphere to the film, a task at which she has most definitely succeeded." - Fin Loggie from Lossi 36
"Juliet works in both classical and electronic styles that come together as an eclectic hybrid to create intriguing, powerful music. Her thrilling new score to accompany Aelita brings new life to Protazanov’s futuristic vision." - Russian Arts and Culture, IZBA