Taylor Swift is familiar with soundtrack songs. You may remember the song “Today Was a Fairytale” from the less than stellar Valentine’s Day. That song would fit very well on any Taylor Swift album. Well Taylor is back with the theme to the upcoming Hunger Games movie and this time she brought along The Civil Wars to help out.

If you haven’t heard of The Civil Wars, shame on you, you need to go listen to Barton Hollow right now! With that said, for Taylor Swift, this is a unique song. The country-pop is set aside for a Civil Wars folky sweet ballad with good and bad results. The song itself is a well crafted, delicate song. So delicate in fact, that the pedal steel guitar slips in there seamlessly, so much so that it took me a few listens to actually pick up on it. The instrumentation is so precise and light, eventually building up towards the end, but not to a level where it overwhelms the song.

The one, slight setback, comes at the chorus. Taylor Swift, Joy Williams and John Paul White sing in very different styles, Williams in a lighter and more delicate tone, one that compliments John Paul White’s tone quite well, while Swift is prone to higher notes. Unfortunately, for Swift, her vocals sound slightly cut short, unable to hit the required notes at the right times. I know I will catch flack for this, but at the same time this is not a deal breaker. The song is still amazing despite this diametrically opposing problem.

Even though the movie is a couple of months away, this song with get you ready for what may be, one of the best films of 2012.

Song Rating (Modified Rating): Stream It or Digitally Download It (Legally of Course)

Listening Co-efficient: Passive Listen