The intimate yet infinitely cinematic collection of original compositions and obscure covers Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder recorded to accompany the new film "Into the Wild" would be worth the price of admission simply for the monumental "Hard Sun."

Brilliantly accompanied on harmonies by Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker and himself on every instrument, Vedder taps into the darkly optimistic heart of a long-buried gem — by Canadian band Indio, which never did its original version this much justice — and finds everything dark and light that Christopher McCandless encountered on his escape from society. The result plays out as epic as the untamed wilderness that enticed and eventually swallowed McCandless, yet — also like the young idealist's journey — stripped of all extraneous modern-day flotsam and jetsam.

"Hard Sun" is the finest moment in the 11-song soundtrack crafted by Vedder as the interior voice of McCandless for director and longtime friend Sean Penn. But it isn't this unexpectedly sublime disc's only high point.

Channeling the quieter side of Pearl Jam found in songs like "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town," Vedder tones down his deep baritone and fiery arrangements, and keeps his instrument selection largely acoustic (banjos, mandolins, steel guitar, etc.). Songs unspool neither too long nor too brief, their sole purpose succinctly illustrating key moments of the film and nothing more. The disc's running time adds up to just 33 minutes.

Buoyed by bursts of jangly acoustic guitar, opening track "Setting Forth" comes off as joyous and hopeful as the start of any long-imagined journey. The cautiously optimistic lyrics of "No Ceiling" and "Far Behind" balance the psychedelic rush accompanying an escape from reality with the cost of what is left behind. At journey's end, fate is accepted in the quiet acoustics and tempered melancholia of "End of the Road" and the gorgeous ballad "Guaranteed." With or without Penn's powerfully evocative "Into the Wild" as its backdrop, Vedder's soundtrack to the tale of a naively idealistic and ultimately doomed soul is a gripping document of the joys and perils of a maverick escape from society.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.