Man of Aran
Posted by: danhartland on: June 16, 2009
British Sea Power have been known to ask ‘Do You Like Rock Music?‘, but their latest effort is closer to post-rock than all that: ambient noise, keening other-worldliness, and chanting vocals make up the bedrock of Man of Aran, a soundtrack album to the docudrama of the same name. The soundscape takes us from acoustic to electronic and back again, representing more a manipulation of sonic textures than a collection of songs or even, strictly speaking, anything so prosaic as tunes.
The soundtrack nevertheless works as an album in and of itself – I know, because I still haven’t found time to watch the DVD which comes with it. My exposure to the music so far, then, is purely aural, a little like reading a play without seeing it on stage, yet the music is evocative without visual crutches. There are passages which feel to the listener like filler, to be sure, yet at the same time they act as connective tissue between the most significant movements – probably much the same function they serve within the context of the film. There’s a very clear structure and flow to these pieces, from highest moment to most seemingly perfunctory.
This strength of thought behind the collection is what lends it its lingering power: though mood and instrumentation ebb, returning motifs and the sheer stately progression of it all produce an overall effect approaching the perfect. There is no real attempt at ‘authenticity’ (a good thing, given the questionable truthiness of the film itself), but every moment feels apposite, carefully crafted and deliberately placed. The album is in its own way as total a statement as the band have made: if it is deliberately focused (and thus inevitably limited), the quiet majesty of The South Sound or the eerie confusion of Spearing the Sunfish are some of the most memorable music British Sea Power have produced; not only that, they sit within a unity of mood music which as an album, let alone a soundtrack, is one of the ‘must listens’ of the year.
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71 is the number of an apartment we return to regularly in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. We like it there.
‘We’ are Anna French and Dan Hartland. The Story and the Truth is a sort of inadequate catch-all term for what goes on here: we tend to talk about novels, history, food and fashion, politics and music, but there may also be photographs of soft toys and musicians. Stick around and see.
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Words We Like
The Weird, ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
An astounding work of collecting-as-art, this compendium of 800,000 weird words is easily one of the most consistent genre anthologies I have read. Heterodox yet focused, it is fated to be the canonical text of weird fiction studies for some time to come - and deservedly so. The first-rank stories here - and there are many, not a few - are not excellent weird fiction. They are simply some of the best 20th century writing available in any mode. Not without its faults - but that is, ahem, the nature of the beast. Essential.
Sounds We Like
Sonik Kicks, by Paul Weller
I haven't paid much attention to Weller - an artist who hangs heavy in my musical tutelage - since 2000's Heliocentric, an album of diverse interests which felt like a shot of crisp elegance in that year of Steps and 'N Sync. The records that followed it - particularly Illumination - were enough, however, to make those achievements a distant memory. There have been rumblings of a renaissance - 22 Dreams got great reviews - but only the sounds of Sonik Kicks have brought me back. Energetic, fierce and, best of all, creative, this sounds like a record from a much younger man. Weller has a lesson or two in him yet.
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1 | Albums of 2009 « @Number 71
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